In early 2014, there were clashes between rival groups of protesters in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, during the pro-Russian unrest that followed the Ukrainian Revolution. On one side were 'pro-Maidan' groups who supported the revolution and a united Ukraine; on the other side were 'anti-Maidan' and pro-Russian separatist groups. There were far-right elements on both sides. The clashes resulted in 48 people being killed and hundreds wounded. They took place during the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and the War in Donbas, where Russian-backed paramilitaries had taken over parts of eastern Ukraine.
The worst violence was on 2 May. Ahead of a football match, a 'United Ukraine' rally was held in Odesa city centre. This march was attacked at Hretska Square by pro-Russian separatists with stones, petrol bombs and homemade grenades. The first shots were fired by a pro-Russian gunman with an AK-74, killing a United Ukraine marcher. In the clashes that followed, both sides exchanged gunfire, resulting in the deaths of another pro-Ukraine activist and four pro-Russia activists, while dozens were wounded. The police were accused of inaction and of siding with the pro-Russian group. The pro-Ukraine group then moved to destroy a pro-Russian protest camp at Kulykove Pole. Some pro-Russian activists barricaded themselves in the Unions House overlooking the square, then opened fire and threw missiles from the roof and windows. Some of the pro-Ukraine group returned fire and attempted to storm the building, which caught fire as the two groups threw petrol bombs at each other. While at least one of the fires seems to have been started by those outside the building, most seem to have been caused accidentally from inside.
The clashes resulted in the deaths of 48 people, 46 of whom were anti-Maidan/pro-Russian activists; 34 died of suffocation in the Unions House fire and eight jumped to their deaths from the burning building. More than 200 were injured on both sides. It was the bloodiest civil conflict in the region since the Odessa Bolshevik uprising of 1918. Ukraine declared two days of national mourning. Russia has exploited the tragedy for propaganda, framing it as a massacre of Russian speakers by Ukrainian "fascists" and using it to justify its war against Ukraine. Although several alleged perpetrators were charged, there has yet to be a trial. There are allegations that some police colluded with pro-Russian activists in the initial fighting. In 2015, the International Advisory Panel of the Council of Europe concluded that the investigation's independence was hampered by "evidence indicative of police complicity", and that authorities failed to thoroughly investigate the events. A European Court of Human Rights ruling in March 2025 declared that, while the events were partly a result of Russia's attempts to destabilize Ukraine, it ruled that Ukrainian authorities failed to prevent deaths and conduct an effective investigation. The Court ordered the Ukrainian state to pay €114,700 in compensation to survivors and victims' families. Many of the officials accused of wrongdoing fled to Russia.
Prelude
On 26 January 2014, during the Euromaidan protests, up to 2,000 pro-Maidan protesters marched on the regional state administration (RSA) building in Odesa, but were repelled by anti-Maidan activists and municipal barricades. Odesa municipal administration fortified the building with concrete blocks to prevent further incursions on 28 January. Confrontations between Euromaidan and Anti-Maidan protesters continued over the next month, and on 19 February, about 100 unidentified men wearing masks and helmets, and armed with baseball bats, assaulted a pro-Maidan demonstration. Three journalists and two cameramen were injured in the clashes. A number of Russian nationalist groups such as the Odesskaya Druzhina were active throughout the period and actively supported by senior Russian politicians such as Sergey Glazyev. Ukrainian Nationalist groups such as Right Sector, Misanthropic Division, and the Social-National Assembly were also simultaneously active, in opposition to the pro-Russian groups.
The Euromaidan protests culminated in the February 2014 Revolution of Dignity, when president Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital and was removed from office by parliament. Police reported that 5,000–20,000 participated in a pro-Russian demonstration in Odesa on 1 March.
On 3 March, 200–500 pro-Russian demonstrators attempted to seize the Odesa Oblast Council building while it was holding a session. They replaced the Ukrainian flag with a Russian flag and demanded a referendum on the establishment of an "Odessa Autonomous Republic". The Council adopted a motion in which it condemned extremism and any attempt to breach the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, several competing pro-revolution demonstrations were held in the city. On 30 March, a 5,000-strong pro-revolution protest was held in Odesa.
On 30 March, Russian ultranationalist Anton Rayevsky was arrested and deported from the city for organizing pro-Russian subversive groups, allegedly for the Russian government. Materials confiscated from Rayevsky called for the destruction of Ukrainians and Jews in the region, and for Russian military intervention.
An 'Odessa People's Republic' was proclaimed by an internet group in Odesa Oblast on 16 April. Members of the Odesa anti-Maidan protest group later swore that they made no such declaration, and the leaders of the group said they had only heard about it through the media. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine later confirmed that the situation in Odesa remained calm. Local anti-Maidan and pro-Maidan leaders in Odesa Oblast voiced scepticism about the Geneva Statement on Ukraine on 20 April. The anti-Maidan leaders insisted that they aimed not at secession, but at the establishment of a wider federated state called 'Novorossiya' within Ukraine.
A hand grenade was thrown from a passing car at a joint police–Maidan Self-Defense checkpoint outside Odesa on 25 April, injuring seven people, and causing heightened tensions in the region.
2 May clashes and fire
Events
A detailed minute-by-minute timeline of events has been compiled by "the 2 May Group", an organisation of 13 local journalists and experts investigating the tragedy on a volunteer basis. The timeline's first version was published in 2014, and an updated version in 2016. In 2015 they also published a report on the background of the Odesa tragedy. According to The Guardian, most of what is known today about the tragedy is thanks to the 2 May Group investigation based on analysis of amateur footage and interviews with witnesses.
According to the 2 May Group investigation, local authorities had met representatives of the pro-Maidan and anti-Maidan camp and had agreed with them to dismantle the tent camp of the anti-Maidan protesters in Odesa, in preparation to the Victory Parade of 9 May. The camp had been set up on 26 January in Shevchenko Avenue and later had moved to Kulykove Pole, in the centre of Odesa, in front of the Trade Union House. The plan for dismantling the camp was agreed by representatives of local authorities and police, by pro-Maidan leaders and also by some anti-Maidan leaders, who thought that the maintenance of their camp had become too expensive and detrimental to their cause. The dismantling of the tent camp should have taken place in the late evening of 2 May, after the Chornomorets vs Metallist football game. According to the original plan agreed by the factions in secret, the demolition of the tents would done by gangs of football fans "ultras" after the end of a football match. Liquidation of the tent camp in this way the interests of all parties and should have happened without casualties or violent fighting: this way, anti-Maidan forces would have avoided the embarrassment of shutting the camp down themselves and instead be later able to claim that they were victimized. Capturing the House of Trade Unions, as well as the fierce resistance during dismantling was not part of the plan. The police were supposed to detain and isolate radical activists from both sides, while avoiding excessive use of force. According to the 2 May Group investigation, the plan was foiled when the tent-camp leadership split and one radical anti-Maidan group issued an appeal to anti-Maidan activists to gather in downtown Odesa to prevent a march of "fascists".
Hretska Square clashes
A rally at 14:00 for national unity was held in Sobornaya Square by about 1,500 people, including many FC Chornomorets Odesa and FC Metalist Kharkiv fans, along with right-wing Right Sector members and ordinary people. Joint marches among the sports fans are a regular tradition before all football matches in the area. As they marched down Derybasivska Street, fans of both teams sang the Ukrainian national anthem together, chanted patriotic slogans such as "Odesa, Kharkiv, Ukraine", and sang other songs against Russian President Vladimir Putin. OSCE monitors reported that they saw around one hundred pro-unity activists in camouflage with sticks and shields participating in the march.
Attendees told journalists beforehand that they had found out through social media that "anti-Maidan supporters were calling for everyone to gather and crush the unification march." One of the pages called on their supporters in Odesa to "take after Donetsk," a reference to pro-Russian attacks that took place against pro-Maidan demonstrators in Donetsk days prior. A leaflet that said the pro-Russian groups would "defend Odesa from pogroms" was distributed across the city before the rally.
This Ukrainian Unity rally was attacked by a 300-strong mob of Odessa Militia/Odesskaya Druzhina (Russian: Одесская дружина) members armed with bats and firearms at Hretska Street. Police did not attempt to separate the two rallies from one another.
As reported by the Council of Europe, police officers made little, if any, effort to intervene and stop the violence, and video footage gave rise to allegations of collusion between the police and anti-Maidan protesters (para. 20 and 78). Another circumstance which raised suspicion was that police officers put red adhesive tape around their arms, as did anti-Maidan protesters, to identify themselves (para. 79). The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine also reported an inadequate police presence to ensure security. Some 700 police officers were deployed at the stadium, a further 100 officers followed the pro-unity rally, a few dozen were deployed at Kulykove Pole; about 100 officers were standing by in the vicinity.
Following the attack on the pro-Maidan rally, numerous fights broke out. Both sides fought running battles against one other, exchanging stones and petrol bombs, and built barricades throughout the city during the afternoon. According to OHCHR both sides had various kinds of helmets, masks, shields, axes, wooden or metal sticks, and firearms. According to OmTV there were mostly air pistols and the first actual firearms use was by Antimaidan activist Vitaly Budko ("Botsman") who opened fire with an 5.45 mm AK-74 automatic rifle. Witnesses pointed out that he was shooting from behind the police line, effectively covered by the law enforcement operatives. The first victim was pro-Ukrainian activist Igor Ivanov, who died from a 5.45 mm bullet. The other pro-Ukrainian activist killed was Andriy Biryukov. Some shots were fired from the roof top of the Afina shopping centre to shoot down at the crowds. Budko later left the scene in ambulance together with police commander Dmitry Fuchedzhy (Russian: Дмитрий Фучеджи). Afterwards the pro-Russian activists claimed that Budko was using blank rounds or, in another version, an airsoft replica. However, analysis of videos by the 2 May Group proved that Budko was indeed using a combat AK-74 with live rounds — the rifle does not have blank-firing adapter installed and spent cartridge cases are clearly seen being ejected, which is only possible with live rounds. Fuchedzhy shortly after fled to Russia and obtained Russian citizenship, while Russian law enforcement denied any legal help to Ukrainian investigation of his role in the tragedy.
Videos from the killing of Ivanov, rapidly spreading in social networks, was – according to people interviewed by OmTV – the tipping point in the conflict and resulted in bringing in a large number of Molotov cocktails, further airguns and hunting rifles to the conflict. Four anti-Maidan activists died from firearms shortly after on Hretska Ploshcha: Evgeniy Losinsky, Alexandr Zhulkov, Nikolai Yavorskiy – from hunting bullets, and Gennadiy Petrov – from 5.6 bullets.
Trade Unions House fire
As soon as word spread about the attack by pro-Russian demonstrators, a call by pro-Maidan demonstrators to go to Kulikovo Field and destroy the anti-Maidan camp emerged on social networks. As a result, the pro-Russian crowd was later overwhelmed by the pro-Maidan demonstrators, and their encampment outside the Trade Unions House building was torched. Thereupon, the pro-Russian activists entered that building and occupied it. The building is five stories tall, and is the headquarters of the Odesa regional federation of trade unions. It is located on Kulikovo Field, in the city centre.
Reports about the precise sequence of events that followed vary between different sources, including several confirmed fake reports being spread through social networks. While defending the building, militants on the roof tossed rocks and petrol bombs at the protesters below. A report by the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (UNIAN) said that the pro-Maidan crowd began to throw petrol bombs into the building after having been fired upon by the pro-Russian group. BBC News said that the situation was unclear, with multiple sources indicating that both sides had been throwing petrol bombs at each other. Several eyewitnesses told the BBC that the fire started on the third floor when a petrol bomb was thrown at a closed window from inside the building, and the Kyiv Post reported that several flaming bottles held by Ukrainian unity activists outside were thrown into the front entrance, and through the windows on the second and fourth floors. An official investigation conducted by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry stated that while no firearms were found inside the building, those on the roof were shooting at the crowd below, and accidentally set the building on fire whilst throwing petrol bombs from above. One of the pro-Maidan protesters who was shot (non-fatally) by a sniper from the trade unions building was Andrey Krasilnikov, a Russian citizen and Euromaidan activist.