Odessa Tragedy (Ukraine)

ITAR-TASS News Agency, May 4, 2014

Odessa citizens demand to free those who survived in the fire

Several hundreds of people are picketing at the police dept demanding to free activists who survived in the fire at the House of Trade, Odessa. The demonstrators, including the parents of the detainees, are holding the photos of their relatives hoping that someone will recognize them and give any info.

They told the journalists that about 60 activists of the Kulikovo Field were arrested after they had escaped from the burning building. They were brutally beaten by the armed people after their escape and then taken by the militia. There are 11 women, including wounded and burned, who need medical treatment.

Militia several times asked the people to leave saying that they will soon release the detainees. They also said that the major part of the activists are kept in the regional militia offices of Odessa. Only one heavily wounded man who was brought to hospital and five women were released since yesterday. One of these women told to the picket participants that they were kept in harsh conditions: they had no food and would be sent to Kiev on Sunday.

The picket participants are planning to stay at the militia dept all night long. They make the list of people who disappeared yesterday. They say the list contains hundreds of names.

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I was there, in the trade union house...


I was there myself, in the burning trade union house. Almost suffocated... Fire brigade was coming inexcusably long, about 20 minutes, and I guess it was not a coincidence. As well as the absolute absence of the police was not a coincidence too. After my rescue there was no fire brigade yet, I was helped to get down from the building by people without uniform – apparently they were ordinary civilians.

How come that people were in the building? Because of the ultras and other „patriotes of Ukraine“ running from all sides with sticks, stones, chains and Molotov cocktails. There was no place to retreat, the people were just entrapped in the building. The people I have seen were very poorly armed, if it can be called weapons at all: sticks, bats, plank fragments. That's all. No fire weapons or anything like that. There were many women, aged people, who came to help with medicaments, they ordinary citizens of Odessa (I emphasize: there were no military professionals, mercenaries or foreigners!). This is what I saw myself on the floor where I was (first or second floor).

Very soon a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the window, the corridor caught fire. There was a fire extinguisher, but we didn't manage to localize the fire. Me and ten other people hid from fire in one of the rooms, everything was pitch black because of the fire, there was scarcely air to breath,
everyone has fallen on the floor where some breathable air remained. Next to me there were people, groaning and praying, which were trying to reach their relatives on the phone and asking them to call fire brigade. The situation in the corridors was much worse because there was an open window in our room through which some fresh air came. We were calling and waiting, yet there wasn't any help, my relatives said me, that either nobody from the fire brigade picked up the phone or the line was continously busy..

After about twenty minutes a rope was thrown to us, we tied it up to a radiator – the people slowly started to come down on this rope. There were people without uniform on cornices, who were helping us to come down because the building was pretty high and there was a danger of smashing up. I haven't seen whether anybody was coming down after me, the people felt badly, a mobile phone was ringing by somebody but his owner didn't answer.


After descending I was given some water, Maidan supporters started to harass me but I managed to go away before our „europeans“ and „democrats“ started to beat the survivors for the simple reason that they have survived and managed not to burn alive.

How come that I turned out in the building? Because I am a doctor and there were friends of mine which I could not leave in the lurch.

… For the first time in my life I wanted to leave Odessa and Ukraine for good. All the same what for but as far as possible.

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More than 30 die in ‘criminal’ blaze in Ukraine city Odessa

THE United States is condemning as “unacceptable” violence on the bloodiest day since Kiev’s Western-backed government took power, urging both Ukraine and Russia to restore order.
More than 30 people have died in a “criminal” blaze in Ukraine’s southern city of Odessa after a day of violent clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian militants.
Ukraine’s interior ministry gave a toll of at least 31 dead, revising down an earlier tally of 38 killed.
It said the fire had a “criminal” source but did not elaborate, nor did the ministry immediately identify the victims.

“Today, the international community must stand together in support of the Ukrainian people as they cope with this tragedy,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement mourning the “heartbreaking” loss of life.
“The violence and mayhem that led to so many senseless deaths and injuries is unacceptable.”
Some local media reported that pro-Russian militants were believed to have been in the building at the time, and that petrol bombs were lobbed between the building and a group of pro-Kiev militants.
That information could not be immediately confirmed.
The interior ministry said most of those killed died of smoke inhalation, while others were killed trying to escape by jumping out of windows.

Earlier, clashes between the pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protesters killed four people — the first eruption of violence in the south after weeks of mounting unrest in Ukraine’s east.
Odessa, a city of one million inhabitants, is located on the Black Sea coast, close to the border with Moldova and its breakaway state of Transdniestr, where Russia has troops stationed since a short war in 1992.
Ukraine’s Western-backed government accuses Russia of fomenting the rebellion taking over swathes of its eastern territory.
The Kremlin warned of “catastrophic consequences” after Kiev authorities ordered a counter-terror operation against the siege city of Slavyansk.

Insurgents shot down two army helicopters, killing two servicemen. And a third helicopter was hit but managed to land safely.
Kiev claimed one chopper was hit by a surface-to-air missile, proving Moscow’s involvement.
The crisis has increased fears of a Russian invasion — with 40,000 of President Vladimir Putin’s troops gathering at the border.
President Barack Obama threatened to expand punitive sanctions to broad sections of the Russian economy if Moscow continued to foment chaos in the former Soviet republic ahead of planned May 25 presidential elections.
Harf prodded both sides to ease tensions, saying the fire pointed to a need for an “immediate de-escalation” of tensions.
“We call on all sides to work together to restore calm and law and order, and we call on the Ukrainian authorities to launch a full investigation and to bring all those responsible to justice,” she said.
“The violence and efforts to destabilise the country must end.”
Harf also renewed US calls for “immediate implementation” of a peace deal clinched in Geneva last month.

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Avoiding facts? MSM uncertain who is behind deadly Odessa blaze

Despite clear evidence that the pro-Kiev radicals set Odessa’s House of Trade Unions ablaze on Friday killing dozens, the mainstream media is being ambiguous about the causes of the tragedy.

On Friday, Ukraine’s eastern town of Odessa saw brutal street battles between pro-autonomy activists and nationalist radicals which left 46 people dead. The majority of the victims died in the Trade Unions House that was set on fire by pro-Kiev radicals.

Very carefully worded commentary on the tragedy in Odessa came from the mainstream Western media, as if they were trying to avoid assigning the blame to those who actually set the building on fire. Their coverage of the event was heavily reliant on statements from Kiev that blamed the violence on pro-autonomy activists, as well as witness accounts given by the nationalist Right Sector members.

Based on their reports, it may seem that the House of Trade Unions just caught fire.
“At some stage yesterday – and it still unclear exactly how this started – but there were rival pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protests here. It led to fierce street clashes, which culminated in a huge fire in a building last night,” reported Sky News.

“Violence is escalating in Ukraine. Police in normally calm Odessa say a clash between pro-Russians and government supporters led to a fire that killed at least 31 people,” said a report by Fox News.

But the actual video footage from the scene of the incident clearly shows how pro-Kiev radicals are throwing Molotov cocktails into the Trade Unions House where pro-autonomy activists were trapped.

https://youtu.be/3BEpOT6_nOU

Asked by the Washington Post who had thrown Molotov cocktails, a pro-Ukrainian activist Diana Berg admitted “Our people — but now they are helping them to escape the building.”

The BBC website merely quoted the regional office of Ukraine's Interior Ministry, writing that “it did not give details of how the blaze started,” stressing that “the exact sequence of events is still unclear.”

Reuters news agency reported that “a pro-Kiev march was ambushed, petrol bombs, stones, explosive devices were thrown, police soon lost control and the building was later set on fire.”

CNN covered the incident by stating that it was “unclear exactly what may have caused it [the fire].” Later, however, the channel acknowledged the fire was started byKiev supporters throwing Molotov cocktails at the building.

The New York Times goes with the headline: ‘Ukraine Presses Pro-Russia Militants After Fighting Spreads to a Port City.’ The words “pro-Russian militants” could create the impression that those were not just ordinary people and anti-Kiev demonstrators trapped inside a burning building, but militants. And that kind of wording can almost justify the act of killing, notes RT’s Gayane Chichakyan.

The Guardian quotes a member of extreme-right nationalist group Right Sector as saying "The aim is to completely clear Odessa [of pro-Russians]… They are all paid Russian separatists.”

Such statements - be they from Right Sector, or the coup-imposed government - perpetuates a narrative that whoever opposes the Kiev authority and feels strong ties with Russia is simply a puppet of Moscow. And this narrative is just perfectly in line with how the US and European officials see the situation. They have firmly sided themselves with the authorities in Kiev and are ready to justify and defend whatever action Kiev takes against the protesters, says Chichakyan.

http://rt.com/news/156652-odessa-fire-mainstream-media/.

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3 May 2014, 21:36

People in Ukraine's Odessa died instantly, poisoned by unknown substance - report

During the fire at Odessa's Trade Unions House people died instantly, having been poisoned by an unidentified substance, the UNIAN news agency reported on Saturday.

Many people died by jumping from the fourth and fifth floors, while others died of carbon monoxide or burned to death.

"I was at the accident scene and saw a great number of dead people. It was evident that they died instantly, very quickly," the agency quoted Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema as saying.

"This means that some substance burned which generated gas and this gas quickly affected people who lost consciousness and died on the spot," Yarema told journalists at a briefing in Odessa, RIA reports.

He said the examination of bodies will be carried out to identify the gas.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_03/People-in-Ukraines-Odessa-died-instantly-poisoned-by-unknown-substance-report-8433/

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Siberia said:

Just watch HOW the fascist Kiev junta reacts to the Odessa tragedy: they applaud!

This is a fragment of Kiev talk-show Shuster LIVE, where people applaud when they see the burning House of Trade: http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/946877/.

The video is in Russian, but you can see how the audience reacts to what happened in Odessa: they are watching the Odessa blaze on a large screen and applauding..

The Ukraine Minister of Higher Education Irina Farion says: "Bravo, Odessa. The pearl of Ukrainian Spirit. The motherland of Ukrainian nationalists Ivan and Yuri Lip. Let the demons burn in hell. Futball fans are perfect rebels. Bravo".

Again, this is the Ukraine Minister of Higher Education!

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Lumiere_du_Code said:

I collected a few days all the most egregious facts and evidence that actually happened in Odessa, it can not remain unlit. the world must know what it was. it was a bloody spectacle, carefully prepared in advance, held oligarchs, the leader of which is the chairman of the European Jewish community Igor Kolomoisky, in complicity with the governor of Odessa region, sponsored by Kolomoisky PrivatBank.
I attach an archive of photographs and documents, where I carefully gathered all the evidence and chronology , please publish it .
I will help everyone if possible.
thank you for your participation, friends.

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A witness is telling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7DLMvsHmcI

A man is telling:
- The guys who were dragging the bodies... we were walking over dead bodies.
- [Question]: How many people died there?
- At that moment, approximately 116 people. They just finished them all off.
- [Question]: Using gas?
- Not only gas, but also sound grenades, traumatic, pump shotguns, combat weapons... they were finishing them off inside the building. Two people were beaten by the sticks. Is this [censored] normal?! Is this the united nation [censored]?! The woman with two kids were burned alive on the second floor.
116 people! Your media [censored] called us terrorists. The Right Sector [censored] pushed us to the roof, throwing things at us and yelling “Death to the enemies!” [in Ukrainian], and the media is talking about the “united Ukraine”???! F**k you with such “united Ukraine”!!
- [Many synchronous questions]: Tell us the chronology.
- Children died there! Old people and women. The radicals came and finished them off shooting in their faces, they were jumping on their bodies, jumping on the dead bodies! The police could not do anything, they {the radicals - my comment} were wearing shields.
- [Question]: Where are the rest of the bodies?
- Near the 6th kilometer [they were delivered there in the same night], guys, we must go there and take the bodies away.
- [Question]: What is your name?
- Vanya (Ivan).
- [from the croud]: Vanya, be brave!
- I am...
- [old lady wearing a bright hood to the press]: Guys, I’m begging you on my knees tell the TRUTH please! The media is telling that we... [end of the video, the woman meant that the junta is terribly falsifying the information].

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Bloody sadism in Odessa

http://aftershock.su/?q=node/227827

A simple comparison allows suggesting that several (six at least) groups participated in the conflict with different not entirely clear purposes:

1) Federalization supporters. They were near the tents. On May 2, when Slavyansk was attacked, the stream-channel of the operation center repeatedly asked gathering in Odessa near the tents [at the Kulikovo Field] to support Slavyansk saying: “everything is ready for you there”. The meeting was announced as some peaceful action, not a fight. The stream also reported that 15 carriages with gunmen (900 people) http://aftershock.su/?q=comment/951252#comment-951252 {in Russian} and many buses with “football fans” were arriving in Odessa. Those who were sent to check this info thoughtlessly declared on air that those were “ordinary fans”, although the Right Sector announced the Night of Long Knives http://aftershock.su/?q=comment/951357#comment-951357 {in Russian}. Now it looks strange, but back then there was such a mess and though everyone noticed the announcements, they didn’t get alarmed. Now it is clear that those people were called up as unprepared flesh as they announced their stupid toothless ultimatums http://aftershock.su/?q=comment/951252#comment-951252 {in Russian}, thus irritating the government and opponents.

To be continue..

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Siberia said:

Lumiere_du_Code, I've started translating the next file of yours, I will post it here in parts as I proceed with translating it.

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