The Ministry of Interior Affairs believes that members of Euromaidan (pro-Ukraine activists – Ed.) were not involved in the fire at the Trade Union building in Odesa, May 2, that killed several dozen people, according to Odesa journalist Illya Azar, who cites Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar in his Facebook posting, May 6. Azar’s report on the conversation with Chebotar is reported by Ukrainska Pravda.
According to Azar, Chebotar told him that the fire at the Trade Union building definitely began on the upper floors. Moreover, according to police, it started as a result of actions taken by those inside — possibly “a Molotov cocktail in a cage fell down and the fire started,” Chebotar explained.
“The fire did not start at the bottom, and the self-defense or the ‘Right Sector’ are not to blame for the fire,” Azar quotes Chebotar. “According to him (Chebotar), the bodies in the Trade Union building generally do not have gunshot wounds. For the most part, people there died of suffocation (a few burned). He said that ammunition, weapons, and Molotov cocktails were inside the building, and he considers the people inside the building extremists,” Azar says.
According to Chebotar, none of those who surrounded the Trade Union building came inside and no fighting took place between the Maidan supporters and the anti-Maidan (pro-Russian) group inside the building. “The provocations with gunfire in the center of the city were started by the anti-Maidan militants,” Azar cites Chebotar.
As previously reported, the prosecutor for the Odesa Oblast, Ihor Borshulyak, had reported earlier that, as a result of the clashes and fire in the Trade Union building in Odesa, 46 people died, more than 200 sought medical care, including 20 police members.
Ukrainian MP and presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko announced at a press conference in Kirovohrad on Tuesday, May 6, that an organized terrorist act was committed in Odesa on May 2, as reported by Ukrainian News.
“Today, in closed session of Parliament, we obtained additional evidence that what happened, the events that took place in the Trade Union building, was a terrorist act. Toxic substances were used,” said Poroshenko.
According to Poroshenko, an examination by international experts soon will prove that most people did not die as a result of the fire. He stressed that it was a special provocation conducted with the participation of Russian saboteurs and certain local authorities, who are involved in the organization and financing of these events.
Sources: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/05/6/7024566/
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/05/6/7024557
