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Russia sympathisers vent anger at Ukraine Odessa deaths
03.May.14, 23:32;
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Pro-Russia supporters in the Ukrainian city of Odessa have voiced their anger a day after 42 people were killed.
Friday's clashes culminated in a major fire at a trade union building where most of the deaths occurred. Hundreds of people gathered there on Saturday.
The protest comes as Ukraine says it has seized a security building from rebels in the east of the country.
Seven international monitors held by pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine were released earlier.
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“Start Quote
The mood is very bad. This is a tragedy”
End Quote Daria Odessa resident
* Odessa residents' views
US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, have again spoken by phone about the crisis.
Mr Lavrov urged Mr Kerry to put pressure on Kiev to stop its military operation, which he said risked "plunging the country into a fratricidal conflict".
Mr Kerry said Moscow should stop backing the pro-Russian separatists.
Both men also discussed the possibility of greater involvement by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in trying to find a solution to the crisis.
The violence in Odessa was the most serious in Ukraine since February when more than 80 people were killed during protests in Kiev against the ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.
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Analysis
image of Sarah Rainsford Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Donetsk
A second day of military operations is under way to try to reassert central control here in eastern Ukraine and in particular in the city of Sloviansk, which has become the stronghold of pro-Russian groups.
Ukraine's interior minister has been saying "we will not stop" - suggesting that, unlike in the past when Ukrainian troops have moved in and then withdrawn, these operations will continue.
The interior ministry is also very angry that Moscow has been talking of Kiev carrying out "punitive actions" in the east and that it has been firing on civilians. The government in Ukraine is anxious that it does not give any pretext for Russia to send in its troops. That pretext would be that civilians - Russian-speaking citizens - were in danger and needed protection.
Pro-Russian groups have spoken again of needing peacekeeping troops. That would include Russians coming in to protect civilians - obviously something Kiev wants to avoid.
* Media contrast over Odessa
Groups sympathetic to Russia, some armed, are reported to have attacked a larger protest against separatism. Skirmishes between the two groups then broke out in several parts of the south-western city.
Pro-Russia protesters are later said to have sought refuge in the trade union building after their encampment was burned down. Petrol bombs were thrown leading to the deaths of at least 36 people inside, according to official figures.
The blackened trade union building, its windows broken, was ringed by police on Saturday as the crowd assembled. Some laid flowers; others chanted pro-Russian slogans.
There were isolated scuffles between rival groups and Ukrainian flags were burned or bundled away.
Military operation
Early on Saturday, the Kiev government resumed military action against Russian separatists in the east of the country, with fighting reported in some areas.
In Kramatorsk, south of rebel-held Sloviansk, Ukrainian forces recaptured the headquarters of the SBU security service from pro-Russian separatists, according to the interior ministry.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the "active phase" of the military operation was continuing, with Ukrainian forces also taking a television tower in Kramatorsk.
www.bbc.com
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