The horrific events unfolded in Mariupol as part of brazen hateful policies pursued by the Ukrainian authorities following February 2014, when a Russophobic government came to power in Kiev in a US-backed coup.
Mariupol residents have shared with Sputnik how Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and the military killed and persecuted participants of the Victory Day Parade in the city nine years ago, revealing horrible memories of Ukrainian forces firing at innocent civilians.
The post-coup government in Ukraine never concealed its resentment for the holiday given that many of them were the ideological heirs of Nazi collaborators Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera, notorious leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its paramilitary wing the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
"This is our holiday, the day of the victory of our grandfathers," said Captain Olga Seletskaya, a participant of the events of May 9, 2014 in Mariupol and Donetsk militia veteran. "My grandfather fought in the Great Patriotic War [the term used for the war of liberation fought by the peoples of the USSR against Nazi Germany and its European allies – Sputnik], was a tank commander, top sergeant, went through the whole war, was captured, escaped, and reached Berlin. He did not like to talk about the war. So this day, 9 May, for us is a holiday of the great victory over fascism."
"My great-grandfather fought in the Great Patriotic War. I grew up on his stories about the war. They knew that this was a sacred holiday for us, and it was necessary for them to spoil it in every possible way," noted Viktor, a participant of the events of 9 May 2014 in Mariupol, Donetsk militia veteran, and serviceman in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) forces.
Mariupol residents' concerns were justified: just a week earlier, Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and militias burned alive and bludgeoned to death roughly 50 pro-Russia activists in Odessa's Trade Unions House on 2 May 2014.