AS RUSSIA celebrated Victory Day over the Nazis with massive parades all over the country, Ukrainian troops using heavy weaponry and tanks in the eastern city of Mariupol killed more than twenty with many wounded.
Victory day celebrations were cancelled in Kiev and in many parts of western Ukraine, out of fear of fascist attacks.
In Mariupol, Ukrainian tanks and troops sought to storm the local Interior Ministry building, which was defended by the local police who barricaded themselves inside. As residents began flocking to the scene, soldiers opened fire on civilians.
Many people had come to mark Victory Day, but as the reports of shooting started coming in, they moved on to show support for the few dozen policemen who had refused to take orders from Kiev.
They screamed fascists at the Kiev forces.
One of the armoured vehicles then opened fire at a group of unarmed civilians, according to a self-defence forces’ representative. At 12.50, 14 tanks were spotted coming from the agricultural base towards Mariupol.
It was also reported that on the Lenin Avenue, two people were seriously wounded – one in the head and another in the stomach. Earlier, self-defence forces in Mariupol reported that armed people had tried to seize the local city department of the Interior Ministry.
‘Camouflaged people are storming the building of the city’s interior ministry department. A bus with soldiers has driven up – they are from a military unit located in the vicinity of Mariupol. Policemen who refuse to obey Kiev regime’s orders are being detained,’ a representative of the self-defence forces said.
‘Yesterday we were told that some provocations were being prepared, but people didn’t believe it, so a Victory Day parade was scheduled for 9am today,’ a local resident said.
Ukrainian MP Oleg Lyashko claims that forces loyal to the Kiev coup-installed government have orders ‘not to take anyone alive’. He wrote in his Facebook account that ‘the perimeter around the Interior Ministry department building in Mariupol is completely blocked by the armed forces. Terrorists are barricaded inside and are now returning fire. An order has been issued not to take anyone alive.’
Meanwhile, all across Russia, including the Crimea and in almost all of the former states of the USSR, hundreds of thousands took to the streets to celebrate the victory over the Nazis. Parades big and small honoured the sacrifice of some 27 million Soviet citizens who perished during the struggle against Nazi Germany.
The main national parade, took place in Moscow’s Red Square. More than 11,000 troops, 49 military vehicles and 69 warplanes were on display for the spectators in the Russian capital.
The parade marathon began in Vladivostok where there was a procession of the armed forces, and an ‘Immortal regiment’, comprised of relatives of those who died during the war, reminded the onlookers of the faces of victory, by holding up pictures of deceased veterans.
There was also a huge parade in Leningrad along the Nevsky prospect.