Odessa Police Release Detained Activists After Pro-Russia Crowd Storms Station

Police in Odessa today gave into the demands of angry pro-Russia protesters by releasing more than 60 detained activists as the mob chanted "Russia" and "Putin save us," — topping off a weekend of violence across eastern Ukraine.

The activists were detained after Friday's deadly clashes in the Ukrainian port city.

As night fell, the violence, which has rocked Odessa for the last two days, showed no sign of dying down as rival pro-Ukrainian protesters responded by preparing Molotov cocktails and marching to the police station to re-hoist the Ukrainian flag that had earlier been replaced with the Russian flag.

A number of detainees were released from Odessa police station on May 4 after protesters attacked the police building.

“Both sides are on the edge,” Dr. Hanna Shelest, a senior researcher for the Odessa-based, National Institute for Strategic Studies told VICE News.

“There’s euphoria, grievance, exaggerations, emotions. It is very dangerous situation; a boiling pot, which can explode easily,” she said.

Watch all of VICE News' dispatches, Russian Roulette: The Invasion of Ukraine here.

This weekend’s angry demonstrations follow the deadly clashes in Odessa on Friday when pro-Russia protesters were driven inside the city center trade union building during clashes with pro-Ukrainian demonstrators.

During an exchange of hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails, the building was set ablaze. “Jump, jump, jump” chanted the crowd below as at least 30 pro-Russian protesters either asphyxiated or leaped to their death in a bid to escape the burning building.

Dozens killed as Ukraine violence spreads to Odessa. Read more here.

Several people were killed in a fire broke at the trade union building in Odessa on May 2.

The exact number of people killed and injured in eastern region clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militia in the last few days cannot be easily confirmed but separatists claim more than 40 have been killed on their side during the most recent assault.

Law enforcement officials have offered little in the way of protection to people. Years of underinvestment, and a culture of corruption, has left the police woefully unprepared and, perhaps, unwilling, to deal with the crisis.

Ukrainian forces step up anti-terror campaign as separatists seize more buildings. Read more here.

On Saturday, Kramatorsk, came under attack by Ukrainian forces attempting to dislodge the pro-Russia local militia. Locals claim that soldiers sent from the west of the country are opening fire on unarmed men without warning.

“Banderas (a derogatory term for western Ukrainians) are not human beings, they are worse than fascists,” hisses Elena, a 42-year-old factory worker. “I am against these bastards, these separatists,” she told VICE News.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said police were being investigated for not maintaining order and he gave prosecutors the task of "finding all instigators, all organizers and all those that under Russian leadership began a deadly attack on Ukraine and Odessa," The Associated Press reported.

Deep Divides
The violence across the region this weekend have carved a chasm out of already deep divides in Ukrainian society between those who support Kiev and those who back the local militia.

Abhorrent comments from Ukrainian politicians and pro-Kiev media in response to the Odessa violence have only poured fuel on the flames.

Vladimir Nemirovskiy, head of Odessa’s regional administration claimed that the pro-Ukrainian activists were merely trying “to neutralize and stop terrorists in line with the law," while Euromaidan activist and nationalist Svoboda party member, Kateryna Kruk, tweeted that, "The city cleaned itself from terrorists fighting for its history. Glory to fallen heroes…"

“These kinds of comment(s) are disgusting. It is like we are animals being led to the slaughter house,” Igor a 19-year-old student from Odessa who supports the pro-Russia movement in Odessa told VICE News.

The lack of support from Kiev has also left those who are supposed to uphold law and order anxious.

In Kramatorsk, Sergey, who introduced himself as the head of the local security service, and showed VICE News around the burnt out looted local headquarters of the agency.

The building has been stormed three times by the local militia in the past month.

Now the empty building is being sealed after the rebels abandoned their gun positions inside the premise this morning after Ukrainian forces smashed through the gate.

But the Ukrainian soldiers didn’t stay either.

Sergey said he will remove the Russian flag which flutters from the roof of the building later, but he won’t be returning to work anytime soon.

“It’s not under the control of anyone anymore,” he said.