Another tragedy with many human casualties occurred on May 9 in Mariupol, a major city on the Sea of Azov, Ukraine. Killing civilians in Ukraine has become commonplace, but pro-Maidan media outlets report cynical lies about it. Yuri Nosovsky, a Pravda.Ru correspondent in Ukraine, decided to separate truth from fabrications.
How did pro-Kiev publications comment the Odessa massacre in the House of Trade Unions? According to the "official version", a few dozen (according to other sources - more than a hundred) anti-Maidan activists burnt themselves alive, gassed themselves, and prior to that, they tortured themselves in the basement of the building. Ukrainian Nazis only tried to "save more lives."
The head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov and other representatives of the Kiev authorities gave approximately the same interpretation of the tragic events that took place on Victory Day in Mariupol. They stated that despicable "terrorists" (as well as "separatists", Russian agents and other "bad guys") staged an attack on the Mariupol police who were heroically defending "constitutional order." During the attack, they burnt the building of the city police department.
The real events are as far from this "hoax" as the Kiev junta is far from legitimacy. In the morning of May 9, Kiev-appointed new police chief of Mariupol, Valery Androschuk, demanded strong action should be taken to prevent Victory Day demonstrations in the city. He allowed the use of military weapons to shoot demonstrators. Indeed, for the Kiev junta and its appointees, any meeting with the use of St. George ribbons is equal to "terrorism" and "separatism."
However, the newly appointed police chief did not take account of what Kiev officials were saying. According to Interior Minister Avakov and "Acting President" Turchinov, "power structures in the Donbass region of Ukraine require radical cleansing - as local law-enforcement officers support ideas of separatism." To put it in a nutshell, police officers and internal troops in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions did not want to fight against their own compatriots for pro-Western and fascist ideas.
Sabotaging criminal orders from the self-styled government, police officers would quit their job. However, in Mariupol, the local protest of law-enforcement bodies evolved to a new stage - armed confrontation. It was Colonel Androschuk, who started it by shooting his subordinate, who refused to execute orders to kill peaceful demonstrators. Afterwards, the protege of the Kiev junta barricaded himself in his office and called National Guards for help. In Mariupol, there was a whole unit of them, who recently received an "award" from Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoysky for their loyalty to the Kiev junta - 500 thousand hryvnia.
The mercenaries arrived promptly on several armored vehicles. They were not alone - the militants of the "territorial defense battalion" arrived as well - the brainchild of the above-mentioned Kolomoysky and the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Infamous Verkhovna Rada deputy and presidential candidate Oleg Lyashko arrived in Mariupol too. Lyashko brought a group of his personal thugs, from whom he promised to create a "separate battalion." or, simply put, a death squad.
After quick negotiations, the police officers staying in the building of the city police department refused to surrender to the Ukrainian troops. The latter opened fire on the building from all sorts of weapons - 30-mm APC guns, heavy machine guns and grenade launchers. Lyashko was yelling into a megaphone: "The Russian Ivan, surrender! Who surrenders, will die easy death. Whoever does not - will die hard."
The defenders did not surrender and preferred to die in battle. In retaliatory fire, they destroyed several men of the National Guards, killed deputy commander of the battalion, Lt. Col. Demidenko, and wounded another high ranking official. Fearing resistance, Lyashko dumped his subordinates and went home. Thousands of citizens began to approach the police building, demanding the punitive teams should leave.
The troops finally made a few shots in the already burning building and opened fire on the crowd of unarmed civilians. They left the scene leaving their barracks, two armored personnel carriers and other weapons.
Valery Androschuk escaped from the burning building too. However, he did not manage to run away too far. He was caught by the angered people. Reportedly, the people lynched him: his body was found hanging from an aspen tree near the local airport. However, it was later reported that he was alive and allegedly exchanged or redeemed. However, no confirmation in the form of photos or personal interview followed before the morning of May 13.
Unfortunately, the victims can not rise from the dead. The exact number of victims varies, and probably is unlikely to be made public in the near future. In fact, the Donetsk police subordinate to Kiev, and the head of the Interior Ministry Avakov denies the fact that National Guards participated in the shootings in Mariupol.
According to preliminary data from the militia headquarters of the city, on May 9, the Ukrainian troops killed 46 police officers and 143 civilians.
Thus, the first peculiarity of the Mariupol tragedy was armed resistance of the police to the Kiev-appointed chief. Another peculiarity was a move from Ukraine's wealthiest man, Rinat Akhmetov, who literally joined armed resistance in Donbass. Following the massacre in Mariupol, the official website of one of his companies, giant metallurgical holding Metinvest, posted a harsh statement.
"We urge to abandon the practice of conducting large-scale battles in peaceful cities of Donbass with the use of the Armed Forces, heavy equipment and weapons. We believe that the Ukrainian military and other armed men must leave the city immediately. The possibilities for peace talks are not exhausted. The authorities still can and must hear the voice of the residents of Donbass. The authorities must ensure peace in the cities, so that people can live and work, so that normal urban life is restored. People should not be afraid to go out to work or walk with children - they should live the way they are used to, for which they have the right. Further military operations on the territory of Donbass will only make most people lose their trust and respect for the authorities. Metinvest Group offers to recognize the fatal mistakes committed in Mariupol and other cities of Donbass, withdraw the troops, engage in a dialogue with citizens, take urgent political compromise solutions to relieve social tensions."
Perhaps, the main sensation of the statement is contained in this paragraph: "To maintain order in Mariupol, Metinvest Group in conjunction with the municipal police creates militias from employees of metallurgical plants. Starting tomorrow, these squads will start to patrol the city to defend civilians from looters and criminals operating in the city."
One should not be fooled with the words "employees of metallurgical plants." According to experts, Akhmetov's private army in Donbas counts from two to three thousand well-armed and trained fighters. Thus, Ukrainian experts believe, Akhmetov responded to his longtime rival Kolomoysky, who forms and maintains death squads in Dnepropetrovsk.
In any case, the tragic events in Mariupol, that followed the blood-chilling tragedy in Odessa once again showed the world the true face of the Nazi regime in Kiev that is ready to shoot and kill civilians for the triumph of fascist ideas.
Yuri Nosovsky
Pravda.Ru