US activists hope exposing Odessa massacre helps show Kiev true colors

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US activists are voicing hope that the international community understands the real nature of the Ukrainian government by speaking out about what happened in Odessa in May of 2014, US human rights activist and coordinator of the Odessa Solidarity Campaign Phil Wilayto told Sputnik on Monday.

Ukrainian nationalists locked May 2, 2014, federalism protesters in Odessa's Trade Unions House and set the building on fire. Around 50 people died, and some 250 protesters were injured in clashes with Kiev's extremists, the United Nations said.

"On a personal level, the privilege of attending the second annual memorial in Odessa was a deeply moving experience for me and an opportunity to witness the tremendous courage of the people of Odessa who were determined to hold their memorial despite the fact that the fascist organizations were threatening to kill them," Wilayto said.

"And on a political level, continuing to expose what happened on May 2, 2014, is, we hope, a contribution to helping the world understand the true nature of the Ukrainian government and the events and processes that have led to the present crisis," he added.

According to the activist, the Odessa Massacre has been called the worst civil disturbance in Europe since World War II. The murderous attack led by openly fascist organizations was not only a great local tragedy, he underlined, but proof the new Kiev government was willing to continue to work with the neo-Nazi paramilitary organizations that brought it to power in the first place.

“Among the most notorious of these is the Azov Battalion, which has been integrated directly into the Ukrainian military," Wilayto said.

He highlighted how it was impossible to openly speak out against the government in Ukraine under Zelensky, citing how the President outlawed 11 opposition political parties, accusing them of being "pro-Russia", despite many of them opposing the war.

The parties whose activities will be "put on hold" are the Opposition Platform - For Life, the Party of Shariy, Nashi, the Opposition Bloc, the Union of Leftists, Derzhava, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, and the Volodymyr Saldo Bloc. What the parties in question have in common is the fact that they are predominantly leftist, and the suspension of their activities could just be part of the Kiev regime's attempts at silencing the left-wing opposition under the pretext of the crisis currently ongoing in the country.

Wilayto underlined that a lot of the truth about the Odessa massacre was already known through various means, including through the videos and images online of the House of Trade Unions up in flames, showing people jumping from the third and fourth floors to save themselves from burning to death. The footage also shows people being beaten as they hit the ground and the faces of the assailants and murderers, in addition to the inaction of the police toward the crime taking place in front of their eyes.

All this public knowledge still did not point to the perpetrators ultimately responsible for the massacre, Wilayto lamented.

"We know it served the interests of the central government, which was worried about a separatist movement developing in Odessa, but we don't know if the massacre was orchestrated from above or if its perpetrators were merely protected after the massacre," he explained. However, he did point out how Kiev never allowed an independent international investigation into the massacre. It "speaks volumes", he said.

He also accused Washington of not demanding the murderers be brought to justice because the massacre also served US interests, for it helped consolidate the power of the new pro-US, pro-NATO government.

"Besides, the United States has yet to fully investigate its own massacres of indigenous peoples, African-Americans, and other people of color here at home," he highlighted.

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