page_title: 2014 Odessa clashes
section_title: Trade Unions House fire
hierarchical_section_title: 2014 Odessa clashes / 2 May city centre clashes and Trade Unions House fire / Events / Trade Unions House fire
caption_attribution_description: Українська: Адміністративна споруда, Одеса, Куликове поле, 1 This is a photo of a monument in Ukraine, number: 51-101-0534
context_page_description: Clashes between Euromaidan and anti-Maidan demonstrators erupted in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa in January 2014, during the lead-up to the 2014 Ukrainian coup, part of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine in Southern and Eastern Ukraine. Odessa, largely Russophone, witnessed continued unrest throughout 2014. The worst incident occurred on 2 May, when 46 pro-federalism and two pro-Ukrainian unity activists were killed and over 200 people were injured during a confrontation in the city center and at the Trade Unions House.
context_section_description: As soon as word spread about the attack by pro-Russian demonstrators, a call by pro-Maidan demonstrators to go to Kulikovo Field and destroy the anti-Maidan camp emerged on social networks. As a result, the pro-Russian crowd was later overwhelmed by the pro-Maidan demonstrators, and their encampment outside the Trade Unions House building was torched. This forced the pro-Russian activists to enter that building, and occupy it. The building is five storeys tall, and is the headquarters of the Odessa regional federation of trade unions. It is located on Kulikovo Field, in the city centre.
  Reports about the precise sequence of events that followed vary between different sources, including several confirmed fake reports being spread through social networks. While defending the building, militants on the roof tossed rocks and petrol bombs at the protesters below. A report by the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (UNIAN) said that the pro-Maidan crowd began to throw petrol bombs into the building after having been fired upon by the pro-Russian group. BBC News said that the situation was unclear, with multiple sources indicating that both sides had been throwing petrol bombs at each other. One eyewitness told the BBC that the fire started on the third floor when a petrol bomb was thrown at a closed window from inside the building, and the Kyiv Post reported that several flaming bottles held by Ukrainian unity activists outside were thrown into the front entrance, and through the windows on the second and fourth floors. An official investigation conducted by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry stated that while no firearms were found inside the building, those on the roof were shooting at the crowd below, and accidentally set the building on fire whilst throwing petrol bombs from above. One of the pro-Maidan protesters who was shot (non-fatally) by a sniper from the trade unions building was Andrey Krasilnikov, a Russian citizen and Euromaidan activist. Russia Today disputed this report, saying that the fire was started intentionally by "pro-Kiev radicals", and that those who died were "anti-government activists."
  Regardless of who started the fire, it is known that it started on the second and third floors of the building, and quickly spread. Firefighters were slow to respond, arriving an hour after the fire began. Thirteen units of fire and rescue apparatus were sent to the scene, but were prevented from operating because of the large number of people gathered around the building. Fifty pro-Russian activists remained on the roof, barricading themselves in and refusing to leave, while others were seen attempting to jump out of the windows. Some of those who tried to escape the fire were set upon and beaten during their attempts to flee by some Ukrainian unity demonstrators, while other demonstrators saved several dozen people in rooms on the second and third floor. Some outside the building chanted "burn Colorads, burn," referring to a derogatory term for pro-Russian activists who wear the Ribbon of Saint George. Local pro-Maidan unity protesters said that no one in Odessa's pro-Maidan movement knew the people that were seen chanting such slogans outside the burning building.
caption: A view of the Trade Unions House, on Kulykove Pole, prior to the unrest
exif: {"Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "160", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "18137"}