Yatsenyuk lashes out at Ukrainian law enforcers for failing to stop Odessa violence
4 May 2014, 12:37 -- Ukraine's acting Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has promised a 'full, comprehensive and independent' investigation into Friday's tragedy in Odessa where dozens of people burnt alive in the House of Trade Unions after clashes with Right Sector extremists. 'I personally accuse the special services of doing nothing to stop clashes,' he said on Sunday.
Commenting on the situation in the southeast, he said: 'We haven't lost control completely … Much will depend on the local population.'
As many as 46 people died and more than 170 were injured in Odessa on May 2. Ferociously attacked by Right Sector radicals, anti-maidan demonstrators sought shelter in the House of Trade Unions. The radicals set the building on fire and blocked all doors, preventing those inside from getting out. Dozens suffocated to death. Others died after jumping out of windows.
Yatsenyuk has also said that the situation in Ukraine can be settled only through reconciliation and the peaceful settlement of all problematic issues.
'The Friday developments in Odessa should become a signal to everyone that reconciliation and peace are the only way to save Ukraine, to make it a prosperous European state,' he said at a Saturday briefing at Borispol airport after meeting OSCE military inspectors freed in Slavyansk.
In May 2 massive clashes of supporters and opponents to the Maidan in Odessa and a fire at the Trade Union House 46 people died and 88 more were injured and later hospitalized.
Yatsenyuk said that all OSCE military inspectors who had been taken hostage were freed on Saturday.
'All attempts to split them as they said failed and they were all united,' the premier added.
He also spoke of the need to free three officers of Alfa task force of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) who remain hostage in Slavyansk.
'Officers of Alfa special force remain in captivity and at my meeting with the SBU leadership on Thursday evening I urged the service leadership to immediately return the men to Kyiv safe and sound,' he said.
The three officers had been captured in Gorlovka near Slavyansk on April 26. They were on a mission to detain a Russian citizen suspected of the murder of a member of the Gorlovka city council Vladimir Rybak.
Head of the Antiterrorist Center Vasily Krutov announced on Saturday that the situation with the release of the three officers was being monitored.
Twelve people held captive by the so-called home-guard in Slavyansk, including eight OSCE military inspectors, were released on Saturday.
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