2014 Odessa Tragedy's Ninth Anniversary Remembered

Nine years on, neither Kiev nor its Western backers show any intention of bringing the perpetrators to justice.

May 2 marks the ninth anniversary of the tragic events in Odessa, for which Kiev never allowed an independent international investigation.

The tragedy was preceded by the Euromaidan coup in Kiev in February 2014, when Ukraine's democratically-elected government was overthrown by political forces touting integration with the European Union and NATO at the expense of ties with Russia. Within hours of taking control of the legislature, the coup leaders nullified the ability of the country's regions to keep Russian as a second official language, stripping millions of people of their language rights.

This triggered mass protests in eastern and south-eastern Ukraine, where people lashed out at the actions of radicals in Kiev and discrimination against Russian-speaking citizens. It also prompted Crimea to pursue secession from Ukraine and re-unification with Russia.

On the afternoon of May 2, 2014, a gang of Ukrainian nationalists, who were supporters of the newly installed Kiev government, clashed with anti-coup activists in Odessa.

The unrest took a violent turn as neo-Nazi extremists herded anti-Maidan protesters into the House of Trade Unions building and then set it ablaze by hurling Molotov cocktails.

Trapped with no possible way out, 48 people were killed, most of them burnt alive inside the building, along with 250 others injured in the blaze, according to official figures. Those who tried to escape the inferno were ruthlessly slaughtered by the radicals waiting outside, as can be seen from video footage online.

© Sputnik