The May 2, 2014 massacre in the city of Odessa, when hundreds of pro-Russian protesters were trapped inside a burning building, pushed residents of Donbass to secede from Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry special envoy Rodion Miroshnik has told Sputnik.
"This tragedy had dispelled the last doubts of those who still believed that it was possible to come to an agreement with this regime and live in one country and obey their laws. This tragedy had pushed thousands and thousands of residents of Donbass to the ballots to vote for secession from such a Ukraine," Miroshnik said.
On May 2, 2014, Ukrainian nationalists locked anti-Maidan protesters, who opposed Euromaidan and Ukraine's rapprochement with the European Union, in the Odessa Trade Unions House and set the building on fire. Almost 50 people died, and some 250 protesters were injured in clashes with the radicals, according to the United Nations.