1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 4 Wounded; 14 Detained at Odessa Fire Memorial Demonstration

A gate of a home peppered by shelling from Russia-backed forces near the front line in Donbass. April 30, 2017. Photo via ATO

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1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 4 Wounded; 14 Detained at Odessa Fire Memorial

2017-05-03 04:59:58

Photo: Members of Right Sector at a court session at which a perpetrator of violence during the May 2, 2014 events in Odessa is on trial. The Right Sector activists have been reported as placing pressure on the court and sometimes blocking its proceedings.

One Ukrainian soldier in a mechanized brigade was killed near Avdeyevka, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation]. Militants fired 82-mm and 120-mm mortars, grenade-launchers, and heavy machine guns on Avdeyevka as well as Yakovlevka and Yasinovataya.

In its morning dispatch, the ATO also reported 4 Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the previous reporting period.

Russia-backed forces made 55 attacks on Ukrainian positions in the previous reporting period.

On the Maritime line, 120-mm mortars, grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms were fired on Pavlopol; 82-mm mortars, an amred BMP, anti-aircraft ZU-23-2 systems and heavy machine guns were used to attack Maryinka. Near Gnutovo, 82-mm mortars, grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms were used. Militants fired 82-mm mortars, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns on Ukrainian positions at Krasnogorovka and an armed BMP, anti-tank grenades, heavy machine guns and fire arms on Vodyanoye. Grenade-launchers were fired on Talakovka and Shirokino and heavy machine guns were used to attack positions near Novotroitskoye. Snipers were active near Pavlopol.

On the Donetsk line, 82-mm and 120-mm mortars as well as anti-tank missile systems, armed BMPs, grenade-launchers and small arms were fired on positions near Luganskoye. Near Avdeyevka, 82-mm and 120-mm mortars, an armed BMP, grenade-launchers , heavy machine guns and small arms were used on positions near Avdeyevka. Militants fired 120-mm mortars, an amred BMP, grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms on Novgorodskoye, Mayorsk, Zaytsevo, and the Butovka mine.

On the Lugank line, automatic grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns were fired on positions at Novozvanovka. Automatic grenade-launchers and small arms were used near Valuyskoye, Krymskoye, Malinovoye, and Stanitsa Luganskaya.

Ukrainian forces returned fire in some instances.

In its evening dispatch, the ATO reported 28 more attacks, including with 82-mm and 120-mm mortars, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns at Krymskoye and Novozvanovka on the Lugansk line; 82-mm and anti-tank grenades were used near Yekaterinovka and an 82-mm mortar and anti-tank grenades near Novoaleksandrovka.

On the Donetsk line, militants attacked Luganskoye with 120-mm mortars and Zaytsevo with 82-mm mortars. Avdeyevka was struck with anti-tank grenades, and snipers were active.

On the Maritime line, militants fired on Pavlopol, Shirokino, Vodyanoye, Gnutovo and Krasnogorovka with grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns.

Ukrainian forces retired fire in Troitskoye.

o Third Anniversary of May 2 Odessa Fire

Police arrested 14 people in Odessa who were demonstrating in connection with the third anniversary of the fire in the Trade Union Building which killed 48 people, Dumskaya.net reported. One of the detainees was found to have a weapon, two others drugs and the rest were said to commit “petty hooliganism”.

About 1,500 took part in the demonstration, according to officials.

At his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Vladimir Putin complained that Ukrainian authorities had not prosecuted those responsible for the tragedy. Putin claimed that “defenseless people were driven into the Trade Unions Building and burned alive”.

But as Halya Coynash of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group pointed out, both Ukrainian and Council of Europe investigations of the fire did not find evidence that it was deliberately staged or that pro-Russian activists were driven into the building.

Ukrainska Pravda reported that investigation has shown that the police and fire department delayed in responding to calls for help.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry believes that pro-Kiev activists were not responsible for starting the fire, while the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group has pointed out that independent experts have had no way of determining who started the fire as Molotov cocktails were thrown by both sides.

Fiona Frazer, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, in an interview with Dumskaya.net said that the public had ceased to believe the case could be prosecuted fairly and the Prosecutor General’s office was planning to bring in independent international experts:

We note the disproportionality and selective approach to various episodes in this trade during the investigation and court proceedings. While five of the 20 accused of mass disorders in th center of town have been in custody for more than three years, the criminal case about violence at the Trade Unions Building is still at the stage of investigation. Meanwhile, the only person accused of committing murder May 2, 2014 is not in custody. He is a member of a group of so-called activists who are advocates of the unity of Ukraine. As we werote in our report, about 30-40 of his comrades, also activists from this group, come to the court session in his case and put pressure on the court and representatives of the victims.

She said her mission’s observers had seen open pressure placed on the judge in these sessions

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

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