As Odessa marked four months since the May 2nd massacre, the leader of the local Maidan Defence said what happened was not a “tragedy” and that the loss of life was “an acceptable price to pay” for what was achieved. Meanwhile, Maidan Defence and Right Sector thugs managed to secure the release of one of their supporters who is accused of finishing off anti-Maidan protesters after they jumped off the burning Trade Union building on May 2nd.
The press secretary of the Odessa Maidan Defence, Artem Filippenko, declared that what had happened on May 2nd at the Kulikovo Field and in the House of Trade Unions had not been “a tragedy”, but rather “a fight which the Euromaidan supporters had won”. According to a report in Timer he stated that “on May 2 Euromaidan supporters defended their city and even prevented the collapse of the state” and that “48 killed and more than 200 wounded was an acceptable price for these achievements”. Otherwise, said Filippenko, “was would have broken out in the Odessa”.
Cynically, Filippenko blamed the leaders of the Odessa Anti-Maidan movement “for herding the people into the [Trade Union] building”, otherwise the only thing burnt “would have been the tents in the Kulikovo Field.”
Meanwhile, 100 Euromaidan supporters from Odessa, including Right Sector and Maidan Defence members, travelled to Kherson to express their support for Euromaidan supporter Vsevolod Goncharevsky and demand his release. Goncharevsky was arrested on August 19 and the Kherson District Court had issued a 2-month preventative jail order. He is one of the leaders of the Odessa Maidan Defence ans is accused of killing off people jumping off the windows of the burning Trade Union building on May 2nd. His actions are “captured on video and confirmed by many eyewitnesses”, according to a report in Timer.
In Kherson, the Odessa far right supporters were joined by the local Maidan Defence as well as members of the Right Sector, far right Svoboda [part of the current government coalition] as well as members of Klitshko’s UDAR party. They declared their intention to surround the court until achieving the release of his comrade.
Some of the protesters were masked, others wore military fatigues, some were armed and burnt tyres outside the court building. Finally, the Kherson Region court of appeal ruled the release of Goncharevsky.
On August 21, Goncharevsky’s far right supporters had already gathered outside the Deparment of Organised Crime in Odessa demanding his release and threatening to attack the building with molotov cocktails if their demands were not met, according to a report in Prestuposti.net.
This video shows Goncharevsky attacking those who had jumped off the Trade Union building (warning, graphic material):
And this other video documents his role earlier in the day of the Odessa massacre, leading the Maidan Defence towards the Kulikovo Field:
Far right thugs outside Kherson Court of Appeal
“peaceful protest”
Solidarity with the Antifascist Resistance in Ukraine 