This can be seen in a number of video recordings. The only thing that is clear, is that both sides acted with the utmost brutality. The "May 2 Group" has found no evidence to support that theory, however. "My hair would have burned in a normal fire," she says as she shows a photo of her burnt face taken at the time. Abakamovich believes that chemical weapons were used. Her face and hands were burnt, but she survived. The 74-year-old pro-Russian activist was on the building's second floor when the fire began. "Bloodied boys came running, and said that we should hide in the Trade Unions House, otherwise we would be killed and burned," recounts Svetlana Abakamovich. The outnumbering pro-Ukrainian activists chase their opponents through the streets, all the way to Kulikovo Square. Sergey Dibrov says, "Activists at Kulikovo Square started using weapons." The first of a total of nearly 50 killed on this day is a pro-Ukrainian activist.Īfter the activist's death the situation escalates. Suddenly they are attacked with rocks and clubs by pro-Russian activists. Thousands of pro-Ukrainian fans, among them hooligans and normal citizens, move through the city. Things remain relatively calm in Odessa, yet pro-Russian activists are here too, living in tents on Kulikovo Square.Ī soccer match is scheduled for May 2. Armed men occupy police stations and administrative buildings in Eastern Ukrainian cities. One wanted to create a situation similar to Donetsk in Odessa: "I think they lost control of it, but it started with a pro-Russian provocation."Īt least 38 people were killed in a fire in the trade union building in the centre of Ukraine's southern port city of Odessaįlashback: May 2014. Schwinger followed the street fighting taking place in the city center at home on the television. The 49-year-old adds that they were wearing orange and black ribbons - a symbol of the pro-Russian activists. "I was at the train station that morning and was totally shocked: people were coming out with guns," he says. The German runs his own IT company in Odessa. Urs Schwinger believes that to be the case too. Shortly before the anniversary of the events, the group presented its findings: the tragedy in Odessa was the result of an act of provocation that spun out of control. "Problems are solved peacefully here." Dibrov is a member of the "May 2 Group," a collection of journalists, experts, and activists from both sides who have conducted an independent investigation of the events. "It goes against the traditions of the city," says the 42-year-old. His Odessa, known for tolerance and high spirits, has never experienced anything like it. "It is a heavy trauma," says Sergey Dibrov, journalist and witness.
There are photos, flowers, wreaths, and candles. In interviews, Russian fighters on the separatists' side said that they had been motivated by "the inferno of Odessa."Ī provisional memorial in front of the Trade Unions House recalls the victims. Russian television broadcast images of charred bodies and reported that "Ukrainian Nazis" had "burned alive" fellow citizens that were friendly towards Russia. It also seems to have been a key event for Eastern Ukraine, as it happened just one week ahead of the so-called "referendums" on secession from Kyiv that would take place in the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. For many, this was the darkest day in the recent history of the Black Sea port. It was the climax of hours of pitched street battles between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists which had already seen six men shot dead.
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Some leapt from windows to escape the flames. Most of them died from suffocation or burns during a fire there.
During the unrest in Odessa on May 2, 2014, 400 hundred or so people sought protection behind its thick walls. The building, once communist party headquarters, is like a fortress. The Trade Unions House bears the scars of the tragedy that played out here one year ago - its walls are covered in soot, and there are no panes in its windows. Only a few stray dogs lie on the asphalt.