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 Pro-Russian rebels in the east freed seven European military
observers on Saturday after holding them hostage for eight days,
while Kiev pressed on with a military campaign to reclaim rebel-held
territory in the area.
The riot in the Black Sea port of Odessa that ended in a deadly
blaze in a trade union building was by far the worst incident in
Ukraine since a February uprising that ended with a pro-Russian
president fleeing the country.
It also spread the violence from the eastern separatist heartland to
an area far from the Russian frontier, raising the prospect of
unrest sweeping more broadly across a country of around 45 million
people the size of France.
On Saturday morning, people placed flowers near the burnt-out doors
of the trade union building, lighting candles and putting up the
yellow, white and red flag of the city. The burnt remains of a
tented camp of pro-Russian demonstrators nearby had been swept away.
People spoke of their horror at what happened.
At the nearby hospital, residents queued up to offer blood and
others went to find out what medicine was needed so they could go
out to buy it.
Oleg Konstantinov, a journalist covering the events for a local
Internet site, said bullets had flown in the melee before the blaze:
"I was hit in the arm, then I started crawling, and then got hit in
the back and leg."
The Kremlin, which has massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the
eastern Ukrainian frontier and proclaims the right to invade to
protect Russian speakers, said the provisional government in Kiev
and its Western backers were responsible.
The Odessa bloodshed came on the same day as the biggest push yet by
the government in Kiev to reassert its control over separatist areas
in the east, hundreds of kilometers away, where heavily armed
pro-Russian rebels have proclaimed a "People's Republic of Donetsk".
The rebels there aim to hold a referendum on May 11 on secession
from Ukraine, similar to one staged in March in Ukraine's Crimea
region, which was seized and annexed by Russia in a move that
overturned the post-Cold War diplomatic order.
Rebels in the eastern town of Slaviansk, their most heavily
fortified redoubt, shot down two Ukrainian helicopters on Friday,
killing two crew, and stalled an advance by Ukrainian troops in
armored vehicles. On Saturday the government said it was pressing on
with the offensive in the area for a second day.
"We are not stopping," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a post
on Facebook. Ukrainian forces had seized control of a television
tower in Kramatorsk, near Slaviansk, he said. "The active phase of
the operation continued at dawn."
Overnight, Russian media reported fighting near Kramatorsk, citing
hospital sources as saying one person had been killed and nine
wounded. Separatists said three fighters and two civilians were
killed in the Ukrainian advance on the town.
DEADLY RIOTS
The military operation in the east was overshadowed by the violence
in Odessa, a vibrant multi-ethnic port city that has seen some
support for separatists but nothing like the riots that erupted on
Friday.
Police said four people were killed, at least three shot dead, and
dozens wounded in unprecedented running battles between people
backing Kiev and pro-Russian activists. The clashes ended with
separatists holed up in a the building that caught fire. Television
footage showed petrol bombs exploding against its walls.
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At least 37 people died in the blaze. On Saturday police raised the
overall death toll in the city to 42. It was easily the biggest
death toll since about 100 people were killed in Kiev protests that
toppled pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich in February.
"Kiev and its Western sponsors are practically provoking the
bloodshed and bear direct responsibility for it," RIA Novosti quoted
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters.
Peskov also said Friday's violence made the idea of holding
presidential elections in Ukraine on May 25 "absurd".
Regional police chief Petro Lutsiuk said on Saturday more than 130
people had been detained and could face charges ranging from
participating in riots to premeditated murder.
BIRTHDAY GUESTS
The April 4 capture of the military monitors, on a mission from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was a major
diplomatic issue for the West and their release could help relieve
pressure on Moscow.
The separatists initially described the monitors, led by a German
colonel, as prisoners of war. One Swede was freed earlier on health
grounds while four Germans, a Czech, a Dane and a Pole were still
being held until Saturday. A Russian envoy helped negotiate their
release.
The separatist leader in Slaviansk, self-proclaimed "people's mayor"
Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, said they were freed along with five
Ukrainian captives, with no conditions.
"As I promised them, we celebrated my birthday yesterday and they
left. As I said, they were my guests."
Western countries blame Russia for stoking the separatism and fear
Moscow could be planning to repeat its annexation of Crimea in other
parts of Ukraine. Russia denies it has such plans, while saying it
could intervene if necessary to protect Russian speakers, a new
doctrine unveiled by President Vladimir Putin in March that
overturned decades of post-Soviet diplomacy.
The West has made clear it will not use military force to protect
Ukraine but will rely on economic sanctions against Moscow to, in
the words of U.S. President Barack Obama, change Putin's "calculus".
So far Moscow has shrugged off sanctions, which so far have included
measures only against individuals and small companies. Obama and
Merkel said on Friday they would seek tougher measures, including
hitting whole sectors of the Russian economy, if Moscow interferes
with Ukraine's May 25 vote.
(Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets and Elizabeth Piper in Kiev,
Matthew Robinson in Donetsk and Nigel Stephenson in Moscow; Writing
by Peter Graff; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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