Out of the police cell and into the polling station: Ukraine's election monitors

FILE PHOTO: Members and supporters of the National Corps political movement hold a rally in support of foreign citizens, who joined Ukrainian armed forces and military self-defence battalions and took part in a military conflict in eastern Ukraine, outside the building of parliament in Kiev, Ukraine October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo

KIEV (Reuters) - Andriy Verbetskiy is not a typical election observer. Just days before Sunday's presidential vote in Ukraine, he was leading several hundred members of an ultra-nationalist group called the National Militia in a protest that ended in clashes with police.

He is one of 363 members of the National Militia movement, a camouflage-clad group known for its appeals to patriotism and promise "to use force to establish order", who have officially registered to monitor the vote.