Events A detailed minute-by-minute timeline of events has been compiled by "the 2 May Group", an organisation of 13 local journalists and experts investigating the tragedy on a volunteer basis. The timeline's first version was published in 2014, and an updated version in 2016. According to
The Guardian, most of what is known today about the tragedy is thanks to the 2 May Group investigation based on analysis of amateur footage and interviews with witnesses. The dismantling of the tent camp should have taken place in the late evening of 2 May, after the
Chornomorets vs
Metallist football game. According to the original plan agreed by the factions in secret, the demolition of the tents would done by gangs of football fans "ultras" after the end of a football match. Liquidation of the tent camp in this way the interests of all parties and should have happened without casualties or violent fighting: this way, anti-Maidan forces would have avoided the embarrassment of shutting the camp down themselves and instead be later able to claim that they were victimized. Capturing the House of Trade Unions, as well as the fierce resistance during dismantling was not part of the plan. Joint marches among the sports fans are a regular tradition before all football matches in the area.
OSCE monitors reported that they saw around one hundred pro-unity activists in camouflage with sticks and shields participating in the march. Attendees told journalists beforehand that they had found out through
social media that "anti-Maidan supporters were calling for everyone to gather and crush the unification march." Police did not attempt to separate the two rallies from one another. Another circumstance which raised suspicion was that police officers put red adhesive tape around their arms, as did anti-Maidan protesters, to identify themselves (para. 79). According to OHCHR both sides had various kinds of helmets, masks, shields, axes, wooden or metal sticks, and firearms. Some shots were fired from the roof top of the
Afina shopping centre to shoot down at the crowds. Fuchedzhy shortly after fled to Russia and obtained Russian citizenship, while Russian law enforcement denied any legal help to Ukrainian investigation of his role in the tragedy. Videos from the killing of Ivanov, rapidly spreading in social networks, was – according to people interviewed by OmTV – the tipping point in the conflict and resulted in bringing in a large number of
Molotov cocktails, further airguns and hunting rifles to the conflict. Four anti-Maidan activists died from firearms shortly after on
Hretska Ploshcha: Evgeniy Losinsky, Alexandr Zhulkov, Nikolai Yavorskiy – from hunting bullets, and Gennadiy Petrov – from 5.6 bullets. The building is five stories tall, and is the headquarters of the Odesa regional federation of trade unions. It is located on Kulikovo Field, in the city centre. 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. Several eyewitnesses 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. 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. According to witnesses, some pro-Maidan demonstrators outside the building chanted "burn
Colorado, burn," referring to a
derogatory term for pro-Russian activists who wear the
Ribbon of Saint George. The first fire crews took up to 40 minutes to arrive at the scene even though the closest fire station was less than a five-minute drive away. The audio recording of the telephone calls to the dispatch centre was later posted on the Internet, and the dispatcher can be heard telling callers that there was no risk involved in burning tents in an open space, and then hanging up; at some point she consulted a superior as to whether she should continue to respond in this way and was instructed to do so (para. 26). The local police was also slow to intervene. According to the International Advisory Panel, they started to arrest protesters only after 41 persons had already died and, when the fire was extinguished, they entered the building and arrested 63 anti-Maidan who were still inside or on the roof (para. 30).
Casualties The names of all victims have been established by journalists and published by local media: Dumska According to UN OHCHR report, These were 34 men, seven women and a 17-year-old boy, all of them - either anti-Maidan supporters or people who happened to be at the site of the incident. 172 people were reported arrested as a result of the conflict, and 38 anti-Maidan activists were detained by police after they had been evacuated from the burning building; most of them were badly injured.
Rumors and conspiracy theories Nationality of the victims On the day of the event there appeared rumors that of those who died in the fire, fifteen were Russian citizens, and five were from
Transnistria. The
Interior Ministry debunked these rumors since the identity of most of the victims had not been determined on 2 May. Later reports showed that none of the identified victims was from Russia or
Transnistria. Out of the 48 people killed, 46 were from Odesa or Odesa region, one from
Mykolaiv Oblast and one from
Vinnytsia. Images allegedly showing the body of a raped and strangled pregnant woman widely circulated on the internet and occasionally made their way into the academic literature. Experts found no evidence to suggest that a pregnant woman had been killed. The local medical examiner stated that the body pictured was that of a 54 year-old woman who died of carbon monoxide poisoning, while the Ukrainian fact-checking group
StopFake identified it as a 59-year old woman who died "from the combination of thermal damage, smoke inhalation and related poisoning." This and other fake news were debunked by the 2 May Group investigation and by the report of the International Advisory Panel of the Council of Europe. On 6 May, then-presidential candidate
Petro Poroshenko told journalists about a closed session of parliament where evidence was presented that "toxic substances" had been placed in the Trade Unions House to facilitate an increased death toll, and that the events were organised in advance by Russian and local officials. At a press conference on 15 May 2014, Ivan Katerynchuk, Head of the Ministry of Interior Office in the Odesa Region, denied that any gas had been used to poison those inside the Trade Union Building. Russian experts in organic chemistry were skeptical about claims that chloroform could have been the cause of death of those killed in the House of Trade Unions. According to them, in order for several dozen people to be poisoned to death with chloroform even in a relatively small room, "it must be spilled in extremely large quantities - many tens, if not hundreds of liters." Ukrainian interim President
Oleksandr Turchynov followed suit, declaring two days of national mourning for those who died in the clashes, also those who died during a
government counter-offensive in
Donetsk Oblast. Roughly 2,000 pro-Russian protesters gathered outside, chanting: "Odesa is a Russian city." There was a heavy police presence, and some minor scuffles between protesters. Originally a protest, the events later turned violent when masked demonstrators with improvised weapons started breaking windows, and forcing gates open. A rally of several hundred pro-Maidan activists marched to the site of the fire, raised the
Ukrainian flag from the central flagpole, and observed a moment of silence for the victims. In response to the conflict, Odesa governor Nemirovsky announced the formation of a 'territorial defence battalion' of the army and would be recruiting to quickly restore order in the region. 7 May 2014 Nemirovsky accused
Oleksandr Dubovoy of organization of Odesa clashes. In July, the court ordered Nemirovsky to refute this false report.
Investigation Investigators probed four theories: an order to extremist groups to destabilise the situation in Ukraine; unlawful activity by Odesa regional authorities and police aimed at discrediting the then-current central government; unchecked actions by football fans and pro-Russia groups; and a provocation by radical individuals. As of May 2017, the official investigation was still in progress and criticized by Ukrainian human-rights groups and international bodies for lack of progress and failure to investigate key evidence. At least one case had been taken to
European Court of Human Rights by a mother whose son died in the clashes. UN Human Rights office states in its 2016 report: Pro-Maidan activist Serhiy Khodiak was officially accused of murder, but he was not arrested. and May 2017. A Euromaidan activist Vsevolod Honcharevskii is accused in beating people who jumped out of the windows of the House of Trade Unions. He was detained in August 2014, but the court decided to release him one month later. In 2015 the court resumed an investigation against him, but in October 2016 Goncharevskii was still free and participating in military operations against separatists. In September 2017, the
Chornomorsk town court of Odesa Oblast concluded that all 19 people accused of participation in the clashes on Hretska ploshcha, are not guilty. The court criticized the prosecution for being biased against the anti-Maidan activists and for low quality of investigation. On 10 March 2016, 'anti-Maidan' accused have been attacked by Euromaidan activists near the court building leading to hospitalization one of them.
Russian nationals The day after the fire, the Interior Ministry released a statement saying that 172 people had been arrested. They said that the meticulous preparation of the unrest in the town was evident from the fact that the majority of the detainees who had been identified at the time were Russian nationals and residents of Transnistria. Police confiscated firearms and a significant amount of incendiary mixture during the arrests. The
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVS) announced that among the conflict organizers it had detained, at least three were citizens of the Russian Federation. Among them were named Evgeny Mefedov, from
Yoshkar-Ola; Andrei Krasilnikov, from
Nizhny Novgorod; and Alexander Zolotashko. The SBU then identified other Russian citizens arrested: Boris Demylov; Sergei Pavlov; Alexander Vdovin; Sergei Sidorenko; and Dmitri Bormotov, from
Evenk Autonomous Okrug. As of May 2016, two Russian nationals, Mefedov and Sakauov, had remained in custody for 2 years despite the prosecution failing to provide sufficient evidence against them. According to the United Nations OHCHR, the prosecution failed to ensure the presence of witnesses and, after a year of hearings, requested to recuse the panel of judges. Both citizens of the Russian Federation launched a hunger strike. In 2019 Mefedov and another "Antimaidan" activist Sergey Dolzhenkov were released to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange. The leadership of the local police was then fired and may face criminal charges.
Arsen Avakov, the interior minister, blamed local politicians for the events. People suspected of complicity include city council members, elections workers, police, relatives of former police officers, and active anti-Maidan campaigners. Twelve people were arrested, but their names were not disclosed.
ECHR ruling On 13 March, 2025, the
European Court of Human Rights found Ukraine guilty of violating the article of the
European Convention on Human Rights on the right to life, due to the inaction on 2 May 2014 which led to the deaths of 47 people. The court ordered the Ukrainian state to pay €15,000 in compensation to the relatives of each of the victims, and €12,000 to three plaintiffs who survived but suffered serious burns, totaling €114,700. While the court emphasized that the events were partially caused by Russia's attempts to destabilize Ukraine, it ruled that Ukrainian authorities did not do enough to prevent the tragedy and failed to initiate and conduct an effective investigation into the events. The court emphasized it did not view the participants through a political lens and all of the plaintiffs blamed Ukraine for the inaction, regardless if their family members were part of the pro- or anti-Maidan protests. The court recognized that escalatory Russian disinformation and propaganda instigated the violence, and certain officials named in the lawsuit fled to Russia and gained citizenship there. Ukraine's Department of Justice said they will provide a comprehensive analysis of ECHR's findings and draw up an action plan for the implementation of the ruling.
Reactions – In the aftermath of the Odesa clashes, the
Governor of Odesa Oblast Volodymyr Nemyrovsky accused the security forces of “criminal omission”, blamed them for having "traded their homeland and their conscience”, and upheld the lawfulness of the reaction by the pro-Maidan camp as self-defence against "armed terrorists."
Right Sector's website called the incidents in Odesa "a bright page in our national history," and
Svoboda MP Iryna Farion posted on Facebook "Bravo, Odesa. Pearl of Ukrainian Spirit. The birthplace of great nationalists
Ivan and
Yurii Lypa. Let the devils burn in hell. Football fans are the best rebels. Bravo!"
Prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk claimed that Russia and inept or disloyal local police were to blame for the tragedy. He criticised the police suggesting that had they done their jobs properly "these terrorist organizations would have been foiled” The
Foreign Ministry Andrii Deshchytsia stated that "there is every reason to believe that the tragedy was an action planned in advance and generously paid for by the Russian special services, the purpose of which was to provoke an explosion of violence in Odesa and destabilize the situation in the entire southern region of Ukraine." He also said that the government believed "that a full and impartial investigation, which is being conducted by law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, will enable us to find not only the perpetrators of the tragedy, but also their puppeteers and sponsors both in Ukraine and in Russia." The acting head of the
Presidential Administration of Ukraine,
Serhiy Pashynsky said "that which we saw in Odesa was a [Russian]
Federal Security Service provocation to deflect attention from the anti-terrorist operation [in eastern Ukraine]," and that "they [the FSB] want to show that situation [in the country] is not stable, but what happened in Odesa showed something else, that the people's patience has run out." Pashynsky also stated that the FSB armed pro-Russian militants in Odesa. On 23 October 2014 President
Petro Poroshenko said that
Odesa had paid a heavy price to stop the pro-Russian separatists. "Now Odesa has become a very pro-Ukrainian city! In the Russian media, Odesa is even called '
Banderites'. And there is no greater compliment for Odesa for me!" On 2 May 2020, President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed condolences to the families of all the victims, and also called for the punishment of all those responsible for the tragedy: "only a strong country speaks frankly not only about its achievements, but also about its own tragedies." – Russia's Foreign Ministry said that the fire was "yet another manifestation of the criminal irresponsibility of the Kyiv authorities who indulge insolent radical nationalists ... which are engaging in a campaign of physical terror", against those wanting 'greater autonomy' living in Russian-speaking regions. Russian Duma member
Leonid Slutsky (
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) compared this accident to a Nazi-crime, like the
Khatyn massacre. ;Other countries – Bulgarian Foreign Minister
Kristian Vigenin condemned the Odesa clashes "in the strongest possible terms" and expressed condolences to the victims' families. He urged the Ukrainian government to "abide by its obligations to disarm paramilitaries ... limit the influence of far-right groups" and all parties to refrain from further provocations. – President
Alexander Lukashenko said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin "The developments in Odesa are simply unimaginable. I would like to have a frank discussion, behind the scenes, so to speak, about the situation in Ukraine and to coordinate our actions, because clearly, this crisis is not going to end tomorrow, and it has a direct impact on you and on us." – President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan said "Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned by the growth of violence in Ukraine, including the events in Odesa, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and other regions. We cannot but worry about the current situation also because there are more than half a million Armenians living in Ukraine." – US State Department: "The United States today mourns with all Ukrainians the heartbreaking loss of life in Odesa. Today the international community must stand together in support of the Ukrainian people as they cope with this tragedy". – Prime Minister of Canada,
Stephen Harper, said the latest incidents were "very deeply concerning" and accused President Vladimir Putin of starting a "slow-motion invasion" of Ukraine.
Gallery File:Odessa Russian Spring 2014040607.JPG|Anti-Maidan encampment outside the Trade Unions House File:RussianSpringOdessa20140510 07.JPG|Memorial service in honour of those who died in the clashes, outside the burnt Trade Unions House on 10 May 2014 File:Andriy Biryukov death place.jpg|The memorial at the place of death of Andriy Biriykov, killed in the clashes ==Aftermath==