Ukraine: Funeral held for slain traffic police chief in divided Mariupol
- 10 years ago
The port city of Mariupol remains gripped by tension after deadly clashes on Friday, May 9 that left at least 20 people dead according to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.
The city council was in flames on Sunday, May 11 for a second consecutive day. It was not clear how the latest fire started or whether there had been any casualties.
Mariupol is one of a number of eastern cities and towns, in which separatist groups are agitating to secede from Ukraine.
Several hundred people attended the funeral of Viktor Sayenko, the head of the city’s traffic police on Sunday. He died as a result of Friday’s violence.
A man attending the funeral told euronews: “I don’t really know who fired the bullets that killed him. I think that it’s up to the government to establish responsibility. Both sides are responsible for people’s deaths. The politicians are guilty.”
Euronews correspondent Sergio Cantone reported from Mariupol: “At the end of the service the priest said that only in the afterlife we will know the truth of this death. But one thing is certain, many people in Mariupol think they already know the truth. And many of these people, not particularly anti-Kyiv before, have been changing their opinions after Friday’s bloodshed.”
The city council was in flames on Sunday, May 11 for a second consecutive day. It was not clear how the latest fire started or whether there had been any casualties.
Mariupol is one of a number of eastern cities and towns, in which separatist groups are agitating to secede from Ukraine.
Several hundred people attended the funeral of Viktor Sayenko, the head of the city’s traffic police on Sunday. He died as a result of Friday’s violence.
A man attending the funeral told euronews: “I don’t really know who fired the bullets that killed him. I think that it’s up to the government to establish responsibility. Both sides are responsible for people’s deaths. The politicians are guilty.”
Euronews correspondent Sergio Cantone reported from Mariupol: “At the end of the service the priest said that only in the afterlife we will know the truth of this death. But one thing is certain, many people in Mariupol think they already know the truth. And many of these people, not particularly anti-Kyiv before, have been changing their opinions after Friday’s bloodshed.”