Odessa Trade Union massacre

Ukraine's major port city Odessa on May 2, 2014, saw a string of strange clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of the new Kiev government, which ended with at least 48 people dead (and perhaps over a hundred). The fatalities were almost entirely anti-Kiev activists, including women and a few children. These died in or just outside the Hall of Trade Unions in central Odessa (on Wikimapia), which was sealed off, invaded by pro-Kiev militias, and then ravaged by fires and mysterious toxic gasses in what only some consider a massacre.

Authorities in Kiev have said the victims had occupied the building in an attempt at takeover (like recently happened in Donetsk and other cities), had probably started the fire and gassed themselves accidentally, and died from that or from jumping out windows. But survivors say they were simply trying to hide from a provoked "pro-unity" lynch mob (some of whose members were earlier shot by mystery snipers), who beat some escapees to death. Further, this all happened only after that mob - including members of ultra-nationalist/fascist groups like Right Sector - entered the building with clubs and other weapons (see The Mob Enters the Hall). At least some ostensible fire or falling victims seem to have been deliberately murdered (signs of bludgeoning and gunshots appear clearly, signs of strangulation, hacking, and chemical death might also appear) (see victim analysis.

There had been a movement for federalism or separation from the new government and an Odessa People's Republic, which suffered and was forced underground by the May 2 massacre. This clarifies how it might qualify as as political terrorism. Signs of coordination the Kiev government in an off-the-books "Anti-Terror Operation," and its poor record of investigating the events (see Odessa Trade Union massacre/Investigations make it seem like the state-sponsored sort.

The episode is an exceptionally emotional issue and the subject of hundreds of articles and videos relating the fairly obvious crimes of the mob. From early on, a large amount of video evidence and some witness accounts showed portions of this story, but little new has emerged since, even as several investigations have been ongoing, mostly by the Kiev government. This page, its talk page the various and their talk pages, reflect an investigation of sorts, moving at least as slowly as the others. This is still exploring outstanding issues including: the early clashes, the strange police inaction, slow fire response, true identity of the provocateurs, true death toll and nature, the chemical agent(s) used against the federalists, possible official sanctions, the conduct and findings of other investigations, etc.. We warmly invite anyone interested in adding to or improving this record to register and do so.

Sub-pages

 * Clashes - Clashes talk
 * Fires - Fires talk
 * Chemicals - Chemicals talk
 * Investigations - Investigations talk
 * Denis Cherkasov Videos‎
 * Vladimir Bodelan

Ukraine

 * Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the Events in Odessa


 * ''Kyiv, 3 May 2014. Yesterday, 2 May 2014, tragic events took place in Odessa, leaving dozens killed and hundreds injured.
 * ''According to the law enforcement authorities, a group of provocateurs who declared separatist and pro-Russian slogans attacked a rally of supporters of Ukraine’s unity.
 * ''The scale of the tragedy is striking. We consider these events to be the continuation of an effort to undermine our state which poses threat to the life and security of our citizens.
 * ''We strongly condemn the actions aimed at the breakup of Ukraine and destabilization of the situation in the south of the country.
 * ''Events in Odessa show that separatists’ subversive activities in Ukraine are doomed to failure because not only do the Ukrainian citizens not support the so-called ‘separatists’ but they also strongly oppose any attempts to break the unity of our country and resist the terrorists and militants.
 * ''We would like to offer our sincere and deep condolences over the tragedy.
 * ''The law enforcement authorities are conducting an all-round, objective investigation of these tragic events, and those responsible must be punished.

Antifascist resistance

 * Vladimir Suchan on Facebook
 * Synopsis of the Odessa massacre: Andrey Parabui, the head of the Ukraine Security Council, arrived in Odessa apparently the day before the massacre. There is a video with him, giving several armor vests to a Right Sector check point at a crossing before Odessa on the day of his arrival.


 * After massive 1 May antifascist demonstration, the Right Sector and the Ukrainian National Socialist Organization and not just "soccer fans") converged on the city. There are numerous videos showing the Odessa junta police and the fascist paramilitaries consulting with each other and the authorities in Kiev their joint actions.


 * On several videos, the police and the fascist mob can be seen as working closely together--militants shooting from behind the police, the police letting them pass, etc. In the morning hours, the fascist "pro-unity" marches congregated in several central streets of Odessa, thus drawing there antifascist protesters.


 * It is evident that this early phase was well planned as a diversionary tactic for the main target was the Kulikovo field with the Labor Union building which was the center of nearly all antifascist manifestations in Odessa. It is also there where antifascist patriots set up their makeshift tent city. The junta felt that this needed to be cleared and that, at the same time, the protesters must be taught a harsh lesson which would break the spirit of this "hero city," a title Odessa gained with several other select cities in the Great Patriotic War.


 * The diversion worked, and many of the young antifascist activists remained in downtown. In well synchronized and organized columns, the fascist paramilitaries then quickly regrouped and moved against their principal target--the antifascist tent city on the Kulikovo field accompanied by units of the Odessa police. Because of the successful diversion, most of the people on the Kulikovo field were middle-age and older people with many women among them. As soon as they arrived there, the militants not only started burning and destroying the tents, but they also started killing the people. They did in such a way that, for most people, the only exit left was into the Labor Union building. That was a trap.


 * Once they got the people inside, the fascists started throwing Molotov cocktails and shooting. However, as can be seen on the photos and videos, the fire was mainly at the main entrance and in few several rooms elsewhere. Only a smaller number of victims showed signs of being completely burned. Many of the victims died of suffocation or strangling or their upper bodies or faces were burned. Many of the victims were shot into the heads. Many were beaten to death.


 * This means that most of the victims were hunted and killed one by one inside the building. This killing spree given the size of the building apparently lasted over several hours and as going on even when the much delayed and very feeble response of the fire department was detected.


 * All this time, the Odessa police stood by and some of the police with ties to the Right Sector reportedly assisted the fascists by shooting into the people who were climbing on the windows. After several hours, the police then acted and detained ... guess who ... some 60-80 antifascist survivors who then, without food or water, were kept for many hours in the police department, and charged with multiple crimes, including murder.


 * The one main thing, which the police was interested most, was trying to find at least one "Russian" in the group. Alas, this did not succeed. All the victims and now detainees were Odessites (unlike may of the fascist militants). An angry crowd later that day forced their release .... which profoundly upset the Right Sector murderers. An Odessite grandmother was memorably recorded "beating" with lilacs (who used to symbolize Victory Day--lilacs blossom in May) Odessa policemen who were blocking on Saturday the Labor Union building with the corpses (most likely well over 100) still there.


 * Only when it was dark, the Right Sector crawled back and came back to the scene of their crime singing and shouting "glory" to themselves. Evidently, the corpses were removed soon after--during the night for today, as various videos show, people started to roam the devastated building still shocked, distraught, and upset. As expected and true to its character, the junta first blamed the victims. They allegedly caused the fire themselves and burned themselves by throwing Molotov cocktails on the peaceful pro-junta protesters.


 * A later modified line, repeated by Western media, was that what happened was a "tragedy," but one without a perpetrator. The one problem identified was some sort of further unspecified failing on the part of the local police. The head of the police was replaced .... with an even more over Right Sector hand.


 * Following a cue from Catherine Ashton, Yatsenyuk, the junta's PM, then issued a call (to an unspecified addressee) for an "independent investigation." The same assembly of fascist murderous thugs was planning to hit in a similar way Kharkov. The massive outrage and mobilization appears to have stopped this or at least delayed for now.


 * Some of the evidence is here: http://ai-zhilin.livejournal.com/1360753.html

The Saker

 * Russia might very soon do something rather counter-intuitive: nothing at all – The Vineyard of the Saker, April 10, 2014


 * ''In 1993 the Russian Parliament building was defended pretty much in the same way as the buildings in eastern Kiev are: all sorts of supporters outside the building, but the core defenders inside. Once the shooting began, the crowd of sympathizers outside rapidly dispersed.  Shortly after the building itself was assaulted an offer was made to those willing surrender to let them out safely.  Some accepted.  Others stayed. The assault of the building resumed and the bloodbath which took place inside was hidden from the public.  As for those who surrendered, they were hunted down while leaving the area, beat up and often murdered.  Finally, the winning side engaged in a massive hunt for Parliament-sympathizers who were hunted down, arrested, beat up and even killed for at least a week. Something very similar might happen in the next few days in eastern Ukraine.
 * ''[...]
 * ''Alas, my experience in Moscow in 1993 (I was there during the full crisis) tells me that you can always find enough people to butcher their fellow-citizens, as long as they get to hide from the cameras. There is nothing more easy then to hide a mass murder inside a burning building - and they know that.

Reactions
@carlbildt on Twitter:
 * ''Horrible with at least 38 dead in Odessa. Seems to have started with pro-Russian attempt to get control of buildings!

Kateryna_Kruk ‏@Kateryna_Kruk
 * ''#Odessa cleaned itself from terrorists, proud for city fighting for its identity.glory to fallen heroes..

Mykolas Alutis on Facebook
 * ''The Maidanites came into the building after it was burned. And then they look for people that were still alive and they beat them till they were killed. The survivors who jumped from the building and were severely injured were beaten to death by the Maidanite neo-fascists with baseball bats.

Vladimir Suchan on Facebook quoting 1TV.ru
 * ''The Odessa massacre was an organized action of terror carried out as a special joint operation of the junta security forces and the Right Sector. It was revealed that, at the time of the Odessa massacre at the hands of numerous Right Sector fascists that were brought to the city after May 1 celebrations, Andreiy Parubiy, the junta's Secretary of the National Security and National Defense Committee, was in Odessa (as he was also the day before). It is also now clear that the activities of the Right Sector and (in)actions of the Odessa law enforcement and security forces directly subordinate to Parubiy were also coordinated and directed by Parubiy himself. Accounts from the site of the massacre do also tell stories of the police acting on clear commands from above as to what to and to do. The massacre was thus happening against the background of a detectable coordination and synchronization between the fascist radicals, the junta police, and even the Fire Department--ensuring complete freedom of action, safety, and impunity for the fascists who set so many people on fire and beat and shot others to death, while preventing ambulances from offering medical assistance. In response to the mass murder, the Right Sector issued a statement in which it effectively declared its actions to be both the new law of the land and the state of emergency, in which the fascists are not bound by any other law except by their will to "act cruelly." After the massacre, Julia Tymosheno expressed her "gratitude" to the same fascist forces, whom she called "Odessites", for subduing "the separatists."


 * Odessa Residents to File Lawsuit Against Kiev Over May 2 Tragedy RIA Novosti, June 11

Print

 * 31 people die after radicals set Trade Unions House on fire in Ukraine's Odessa – RT
 * ‘They beat us with bats and chains’ - anti-Maidan activist in Odessa – RT
 * Радикалы позируют с сожженными заживо ополченцами (Radicals posing with burned alive militias) – Life News
 * Ukraine clashes: dozens dead after Odessa building fire – Guardian, May 2
 * В Одессе боевики "Правого сектора" заживо сожгли протестующих в Доме профсоюзов (In Odessa, the militants of the "right sector" protesters burned alive in the House of Trade Unions) – 1TV.ru
 * People in Ukraine's Odessa died instantly, poisoned by unknown substance - report
 * Бойня в Одессе: как это было (Slaughterhouse in Odessa: how it was)
 * Radicals shooting at people in Odessa’s burning building caught on tape – RT, May 4, 2014
 * Odessa tragedy survivor: ‘Many people strangled after escaping the fire’ – RT, May 07, 2014

Analysis

 * Ukraine SITREP update - May 2nd, 20:14 UTC/Zulu: massacre in Odessa – The Saker
 * Ukraine SITREP update - May 3nd, 16:20 UTC/Zulu: "the mysterious Russian soul?"
 * Анализ произошедшего в Одессе 2 мая (Analysis of events in Odessa May 2)
 * МЕХАНИКА ПРОВОКАЦИИ В ОДЕССЕ (Mechanics of provocation in Odessa)
 * там и тогда - Из-за спины...
 * Odessa, 2nd of MAY
 * Odessa, Ukraine (Novorossiya). New facts about how local citizens were burried.
 * the thugs killed Odessa inhabitants in the Trade Unions House - the details of bloody scenario
 * https://vvv-ig.livejournal.com/690116.html
 * http://andreistp.livejournal.com/2736701.html
 * http://aloban75.livejournal.com/691787.html
 * http://ruposters.ru/archives/4749
 * http://vesti.ua/odessa/50433-odesskaja-hatyn-kak-jeto-bylo-na-samom-dele
 * http://darussophile.com/2014/05/massacre-in-odessa/
 * http://scgnews.com/odessa-massacre-evidence-the-mainstream-media-wont-show-you-warning-disturbing-footage
 * The Odessa Massacre - What REALLY Happened – SCG, 12.May.2014
 * Crucial investigation into the role of the junta in the Odessa massacre (MUST READ!) – The Saker
 * Бойня в Одессе результат провокации (Slaughterhouse in Odessa result of provocation)
 * The Odessa Massacre – A Personal Tribute – Graham Phillips
 * Spinning the Odessa Massacre – Tony Cartalucci,06.05.2014
 * MASSACRE IN ODESSA – Alexander Mercouris, May 5, 2014
 * Genocide in Novorossiya and swan song of Ukrainian statehood – Andre Fomine, May 6, 2014
 * Odessa: Neo-Nazis Filmed Shooting at People Trapped in Trade Union Building
 * Western cover-up of Odessa massacre – FINIAN CUNNINGHAM, May 7, 2014
 * Ukrainian Thread (Українська Тема) – Stormfront Europe
 * Bloodbath in Odessa guided by interim rulers of Ukraine – by ANTIFASCIST (Ukraine), May 14, 2014
 * МЧС Украины: люди в Одессе погибли не от угарного газа (Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine: Odessa people did not die from carbon monoxide) – 15 MAY 2014
 * The Odessa Massacre – detailed video analysis – one month later – operationmindcrime, June 1, 2014
 * Chronicles of the Odessa Tragedy – Information Group of Crimes against the Person, 21.05.2014
 * How the thugs killed Odessa inhabitants in the Trade Unions House - the details of bloody scenario – ersieesist, 05 May 2014 (with English translation)
 * The truth about what happened in Odessa, Ukraine: How Bandera psychopaths murdered, raped and burned people alive with the blessing of the Western powers
 * Образцы из Дома Профсоюза Одессы, при химическом анализе и спектроанализе, показали следы белого фосфора. Применялась дымовая граната М15 производства сша (Samples of the Trade Union House in Odessa, chemical analysis and spektroanalize showed traces of white phosphorus. Used smoke grenade M15 made ​​in USA.) – (copy)
 * Месяц спустя после трагедии: что мы знаем и чего не знаем о майской бойне (A month after the tragedy: what we know and do not know about the May massacre)
 * Detailed analysis of downtown events.

Witnesses

 * Eyewitness speaks of horror at Odessa Trade Unions Assembly Hall on 2 May 2014 – 14.05.2014
 * /Vladimir Bodelan
 * Ukraine's Odessa massacre to be discussed at Vienna meeting - activist Voide of Russia, June 11
 * A photo exhibition "Odessa massacre - do not look away" brought together about 20 activists. ... Sergei Marhel, who was presented as an eyewitness

Location

 * Satellite image showing locations of clashes. The park to the left and the first clash bottom left can be seen in the UStream video described below. The top-left corner of the image is here on Wikimapia. The Trade Union Building is around 1.5 km SSE from there.

Photos

 * Одесса, Дом профсоюзов, 3 мая 2014 г. Смотрите! И не говорите, что не видели! (Odessa, House of Trade Unions, May 3, 2014 Look! And do not say you have not seen!)
 * Details of bloody scenario (Some of the pictures in the link above in better quality/detail, some analysis)
 * Voice of Russia
 * http://fishki.net/anti/1266149-zhertvy-odessy-dom-profsojuzov.html
 * http://vk.com/wall-42578918_82518?z=album-62266152_194407858


 * Photo Chronicles of Clashes in Odessa, May 2 Photoss and observations, posted by PETRO ZAMAKIS and by "the author" - "Napaki" - if they're not the same person (not sure) Ukraine Investigation, MAY 8, 2014. These are the Napaki.livejournal.com photos so widely re-used, if not in the original source, than the same full-seeming set and order with on-the-scene notes. Here's a full list (or a start to one fow now) for reference purposes. I only mean to upload some, rather than try to "replace" this resource, as a copyright concern. The order tends to spatial and chronological, so it's handy. But those and the rest could be dubbed, by battle, as listed at Talk:Odessa Trade Union massacre/Clashes --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:30, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Pre-clash P1 - P2 - P3 - P4 - P5 - P6 - P7 - P8 (damaged car) - P9 (same) - P10 (police) - P11 (same) - P12 ("unity rally") - P13 (same) - P14 ("Maidan self-defense") - P15 (same)

HretskaH1 (clashes with smoke) - H2 (same) - H3 (same) - H4 (same) - H5 (same) - H6 (same) - H7 (same) - H8 (same) - H9 (same) - H10 (same) - H11 (same) - H12 (gathering pavement) - H13 (same) - H14 (police cars) - H15 ("Unity rally") - H16 ("pro-Russian" barricade) - H17 (traffic dude) - H18 (closed shops) - H19 (same)

Zhukova Z1 - Z2 - Z3 ...Z7 ... Z12 ... Z33 - [Z34 (sudden shark attack!)

Athena (again on Hretska, but further east, by the Afina/Athen business center) A1 - A2 - A3 - A4 ... A20

Marching South M1 ... M9

Kolukivo Field K1 ... K28 ... K37

Video

 * ODESSA 5/02: The Untold Truth of Kulikovo Field (Part 1) (HD Version) - Two hour long "documentary" of raw footage from the whole day with partial translation of dialogues and a written English narration. By a certain "International Independent Broadcasting Corps" (anti-Maidan). Part 2 yet to be released.

Downtown scuffles

 * Playlist
 * Odessa May 2, 2014 – Red armbands = antifascist
 * 02 05 2014 Одесса
 * UStream recording of what first appears to be a gathering of football fans, but at around 8 min it shows hundreds of armed and armored paramilitary guys. Camera follows the police who stop a smaller group of militants approaching, street fights ensue. More videos from later the day.
 * Pogrome in Odessa, 02.05.2014, unnarrated chronological collection of scenes that day. Most interesting at late 8 min police seen together with the fighters of the "14-th hundred of Maidan self-guard" mentioned by the Borotba activist, who according to the uploader now in part joined Parubiy's "National Guard" but original are part of the Nationalistic Youth Congress. Prime suspects if not even more "special" forces were involved.
 * Одесса, 02.05.2014. Kill Them All!!!
 * There are some interesting videos of Praviy Sector on Odessa on Vita Zaverukha's VK page.
 * I am not sure if she was in Odessa, but she was in Schastye yesterday blowing up the the Lugansk power station. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 21:41, 18 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Ernesto Guevara channel on YouTube has reuploaded many videos.

Trade Union Building

 * В Сети появилось видео начала штурма Дома профсоюзов в Одессе (Video of assault on House of Trade Unions in Odessa on the net) – Life News, May 6, 2014
 * ''One of the entries captured the beginning of the tragedy: immediately after nationalists burned the tent city activists Antimaydana. The footage shows that crowd of young men in masks and wooden sticks in their hands knocked out one of the side doors and entered the building.
 * ''Next record has been going on inside the building. Militants spread all corridor - someone goes to the second floor, one begins to break in the door, behind which, apparently tried to hide Antimaydana activists. Brutal thugs literally pounce on the locked shutters. In the frame comes a woman who begs radicals stop.
 * ''Frames on the record shows that some of the participants of the storm House of Trade Unions have masks. And it is possible that the assumptions of the poisoning victims Ukrainian radicals toxic substances far from the truth.
 * The Denis Cherkasov videos‎ have now been deleted from YouTube. See talk for accessing.


 * How the Odessa Fire Massacre Began (RAW VIDEO FOOTAGE) – SCG
 * Новое. Одесса сейчас. 02.05.2014. (Горит Дом профсоюзов) (New. Odessa now. 02/05/2014. (Lit House of Trade Unions))
 * Одесса горит дом профсоюзов 2 05 2014 (Odessa Trade Union Building burns May 2, 2014)
 * ТА Одесса 20140502 203940
 * Одесса Дом профсоюзов Внутри Сепаратисты погибшие в пожаре 02 мая 2014 года Трансляция – (Odessa House of Trade Unions Inside separatists who died in a fire May 2, 2014 Broadcast)
 * 18+ Одесса 2 05 2014 в доме профсоюзов уже насчитали 17 трупов (18 + Odessa May 2, 2014 in the house of trade unions already counted 17 corpses)
 * Shooting at people who try to escape from the flames in Odessa.
 * Это мой народ? Collection of key scenes at the Trade Union building
 * 04.05.2014, Одесса Освобожденный из ГорУВД активист антимайдана (04.05.2014, Odessa Freed from GorUVD activist antimaydana)
 * Man claims 116 killed.
 * Одесса Самооборона Майдана подожгла Дом Профсоюзов (Odessa Maidan self-defense burned House of Trade Unions)
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5I9CoVVoqI
 * Одесса. Люди прыгают из окон горящего здания профсоюзов [02.05.2014] Youtube, 24:17 - "Odessa. People jumping from the windows of a burning building unions jump" (from Russian) mostly looking at the ground the whole time, but still some good evidence in there. Mykola (the shooter featured on RT) is seen briefly (0:50, 1:20 running, no leg injury there). plenty of fire bottles being thrown, mostly up and crashing off the building. Apparent shooting from the roof and fear of and talk of snipers, cheering and clapping at the fire 23:06. Injured and dead people with blood spatters below the windows before that. Car alarm goes off - someone jumping onto a car?
 * Одесса. Майдан vs АнтиМайдан Ustream on May 2 at 9:09pm on opposition_ru

News reports

 * Odessa Massacre: 'Right Sector wouldn't let people out of burning building' – RT, May 2, 2014

Bodies

 * Russian Terrorists Burnt Alive In Trade Union Building Fire In Odessa Ukraine, May 2 2014 –  EuroMaidan PR , May 3, 2014
 * http://vk.com/video77122208_168415718

Crime scene

 * Одесса Дом. Кабинет 344. Что там произошло? (Odessa Building. Unions. Room 344. What happened there?) – ANNA News
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGq2d1cgQ8c

Reports

 * Supplement “The massacre of Odessa” (PDF)

TV and Radio Stations (current events)
1 TV, Odessa, official news

mama.odessa.fm (Odessa-mama, --feel-good type, mostly play local-taste music, with some brief news, apparently one at 8 am, possibly at other times, like at xx.00 sharp, maybe. Brief newscasts are nonpolitical, non-confrontational, current-and-future events looking, not backward-looking).

long list of Ukrainian radio stations