Ukrainians met them like fascists.

[GoldfishLord]

Subtitle: But Russians soldier expected a different welcome, and some were shocked when Ukrainians met them like fascists.

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Ukrainians are not fascists, so, to me, the "like fascists" part is unnatural.
Is the red part natural English?

 

[Barque]

There are two possible explanations.

Ukrainians met them like fascists.

Perhaps he means "The Ukrainians treated them (the Russians) as fascists". The sentence structure isn't idiomatic in that case.
Or he's just not used "fascists" correctly; perhaps he means "The Ukrainians reacted ferociously".

Either way, it's grammatical but wrong.

 

[Tarheel]

The whole thing is unnatural. Perhaps:

The Russian soldiers expected a different welcome. The Ukrainians did not greet them as friends. No -- not as liberators but as invaders.

You might say: "They jeered and hissed and spat on the Russians." (That's assuming one or more Ukrainians really did that, in which case it would definitely convey the message.)

 

[emsr2d2]

It means the Russian soldiers were surprised when the Ukrainians met them and then behaved towards them as if they (the Russian soldiers) were fascists.