Видео Дарина Шпортко
В ходе массовых столкновений между сторонниками единства Украины и сепаратистами в Одессе был совершен поджог здания профсоюзов. В результате 38 человек погибли: 8 выпрыгнули из окон во время пожара, 30 задохнулись угарным газом, сообщает ОСО ГУМВД области.
В настоящее время пожар ликвидирован. На месте происшествия работает следственно-оперативная группа.
В больницы обратились 40 пострадавших, ранены 10 сотрудников милиции.
Напомним, сегодня в Одессе на шествие футбольных фанатов и сторонников Евромайдана за единую Украину было совершено нападение нескольких сотен людей с георгиевскими ленточками, вооруженных битами, щитами и огнестрельным оружием. В результате от огнестрельной раны погиб молодой парень. После этого милиции на некоторое время удалось успокоить людей, однако вскоре столкновения вспыхнули с новой силой.
Ukraine clashes: dozens dead after Odessa building fire
Trade union building set alight after day of street battles in Black Sea resort city
More than 30 people were killed in violent and chaotic clashes in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on Friday as pro-Ukraine activists stormed a building defended by protesters opposed to the current government in Kiev and in favour of closer ties with Russia.
The violence continued on Saturday as Ukraine said its forces had attacked pro-Russian separatists in the industrial east of the country at dawn near the town of Kramatorsk.
Interior minister Arsen Avakov said Ukrainian forces had seized control of a television tower in Kramatorsk, near the rebel stronghold of Slavyansk where there was heavy fighting on Friday. "We are not stopping," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page, but gave no information on casualties.
Odessa's large Soviet-era trade union building was set alight on Friday as the pro-Ukraine activists mounted an assault as dusk fell. Police said at least 31 people choked to death on smoke or were killed when jumping out of windows after the trade union building was set on fire.
Bodies lay in pools of blood outside the main entrance as explosions from improvised grenades and molotov cocktails filled the air. Black smoke from the building and a burning pro-Russia protest camp wreathed the nearby square.
Pro-Russia fighters mounted a last-ditch defence of the burning building, throwing masonry and petrol bombs from the roof on to the crowd below.
Medics at the scene said the pro-Russia fighters were also shooting from the roof. At least five bodies with bullet wounds lay on the ground covered by Ukraine flags as fire engines and ambulances arrived at the scene.
Some people fell from the burning building as they hung on to windowsills in an attempt to avoid the fire that had taken hold inside. Pro-Ukraine protesters made desperate efforts to reach people with ropes and improvised scaffolding.
"At first we broke through the side, and then we came through the main entrance," said one pro-Ukrainian fighter, 20, who said he was a member of the extreme nationalist group Right Sector.
"They had guns and they were shooting ... Some people jumped from the roof, they died obviously," he said.
Riot police arrived on the scene as hand-to-hand fighting was already under way inside, but did not enter the building and stood formed up in ranks outside.
Within two hours of the assault beginning, the resistance from pro-Russia activists inside the building seemed to have been quelled. Several fire crews were spraying the smouldering building with water and ambulances lined the streets outside.
Bloody and dazed pro-Russia protesters were eventually escorted from the building. Many were handed over to police, and loaded on to police vans. Some were assaulted by the crowd.
