Yeah, those accusation always seem absurd to me...accusing a Jewish comedian who lost family in the holocaust of being a Nazi sympathizer is a bit bizarre. Kyiv, Ukraine was the site of numerous Nazi atrocities such as the “Baba Yar” massacre of its Jewish population. The valley in central Kyiv where this happened is still held as a memorial site, and Ukrainians have a very strong, traditional hatred of Nazi Germany.

However, Ukraine has a complicated relationship with WWII. The end of WWII was both a victory and a defeat for Ukraine. Prior to the war Ukraine was fighting towards its independence, first from the Russian Empire, and then from the Soviet Union. But after WWII and the victory of Soviet forces over Nazi Germany, Ukraine was free of Nazi occupation, but also fell firmly under the rule of the USSR. The Soviet Union regarded victory in WWII as a grand symbol of the strength and righteousness of Soviet Communist ideology, and at that point if you weren’t a Communist you were considered a Nazi. There was no middle ground. Thus, anyone who was independent, and campaigned for independence from the USSR was labeled a Nazi sympathizer and quickly discredited.

Like many other European countries today, or even the USA for that matter, Ukraine does have a small extreme far-Right political movement who are essentially Neo-Nazis, but it doesn't hold any real political weight and is mainly a fringe group. You'll see them passing out fliers once in a while, or protesting something near the government offices in Kyiv, but they've never gained any momentum.

However, there is the very problematic Azov Regiment, which is a volunteer group formed in 2014 in response to the invasion of Eastern Ukraine. They are a privately-owned militia, they are vicious fighters, fiercely loyal to Ukraine, and also insanely far-far-Right-Wing. They're super unhinged and very dangerous politically, but are also very useful in the fight against Russia so Ukrainian politicians are always afraid to publicly criticize them. Most Ukrainians I know regard them as Neo-Nazi nut-jobs and want the government to distance itself from them, but because of their performance in various battles against Russia (they were the ones in that steel plant that was under siege for months), they have earned a following that sees them as heroes—which they are in a sense...they're just politically, ummm...unsophisticated.

One other episode from history that always comes back to haunt modern Ukraine is the case of Stepan Bandera. Prior to WWII Bandera was a resistance leader fighting for Ukrainian independence from the USSR. When WWII broke out, Ukraine was between a rock and a hard place, with the USSR coming from one direction and Germany from the other. They could either fight the Germans alongside the Soviets, or fight the Soviets alongside the Germans—or stay in the middle and just get crushed. In hindsight, Bandera and his fighters made the wrong call and accepted help from the Germans to fight against the Russians and ended up loosing their bid for independence anyway. Following WWII Bandera and his followers were demonized by the USSR as full-on Nazis. Accusing anyone who opposes them of being Nazis is an old strategy that the Soviets have used time and again.

In all my years living in Ukraine, I never witnessed any mainstream public sentiment that was even remotely “Nazi.” Walking down the street wearing a swastika would meet the same reaction as displaying a hammer and sickle—you'd probably get beat up... Nazi Germany is generally seen in the same light as the USSR, as an old enemy and oppressor, and mainstream Ukrainian politics are focused on aligning themselves with the EU and the West.