Pro-Russian activists arrested during clashes in Odessa two days ago have been freed after police headquarters came under attack from protesters

Russian President said he is 'outraged' by the violence

Moscow also demanded presidential elections set for May 25 be postponed

Government in Kiev has declared two days of mourning for troops

Western countries blame Kremlin for inciting the mayhem



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Police in Odessa have released pro-Russian activists arrested during clashes two days ago after their headquarters came under attack from protesters.

Thousands of pro-Russian activists this afternoon stormed the police station in the Black Sea port, where dozes of people were killed in riots two days ago.

Protesters forced open the gate to the complex and smashed windows, fighting police in riot gear who seemed reluctant to strike back against their countrymen.

'Freedom fighter': A man cries after being released from a local police station which was stormed by pro-Russian protesters in Odessa, Ukraine

Two sides: The protesters can be seen surrounding a Ukrainian policeman outside the Odessa police department In the firing line: A young journalist is being cared for my volunteers after being shot in the leg outside the Odessa Police's headquarters

Protesters welcome a man who just released from Odessa's police headquarters who had been arrested in street battles between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian supporters in the Black Sea port on Friday

Emotional: The men were released after thousands of people descended on the heaquarters and laid siege to it

Pro-Russian protesers storm the police headquarters in Odessa to free fellow activists arrested on Friday The prisoners released this afternoon were those held during fierce clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Kiev groups which led to 47 deaths on Friday night. The trouble in hitherto peaceful Odessa, where many citizens speak Russian, comes as forces loyal to the new government in Kiev carry out a major offensive against separatists who have seized control of towns and cities in the east of the country. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Britain's 'invisible' stealth fighter that has cost the... Amazing confession of World Cup security chief: 'FA is... Share this article Share Last night the Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ‘outraged’ by the violence in Ukraine and is under huge pressure to send in tanks as the country lurches towards civil war, the Kremlin warned last night. Amid the deepening violence and bloodshed, Moscow flexed its muscles by demanding that presidential elections scheduled for May 25 be postponed. The government in Kiev declared two days of mourning for Ukrainian troops killed in the eastern city of Slaviansk and for victims of protests in Odessa – including pro-Russian activists killed in attacks by Ukrainian extremist groups.

Police try to contain the surging mob with a line of riot shields after protesters gain access to the compound

Mob rule: Protesters forced open the gate to the complex and smashed windows, fighting police in riot gear who seemed reluctant to strike back against their countrymen

Waiting game: Relatives of detainees wait impatiently as Pro-Russian protesters storm the police station where their comrades were detained during the clashes with Kiev supporters

Reunion: The crowd cheer as released detainees reunite with friend and family outside the police station in Odessa

Brotherhood: A protester gets a kiss from a supporter after being released by police

Violent clashes: Pro-Russian protestors attack police in Odessa yesterday

Three men drag a riot policeman to the ground while a fourth tries to pull his baton away as tempers flare in Odessa outside the trade union building where dozens of pro-Russian protesters died in a fire on Friday

A pro-Russian activist argues with policemen guarding the burned-out building after thousands descended on the scene of Friday's violence to lay flowers and light candles of remembrance

Flower power: A policeman raises his arm to defend himself from a woman battering him with blooms

Western countries blame Moscow for inciting the mayhem now raging across Ukraine, and US President Barack Obama has threatened a new round of sanctions against Russia.

But a senior Russian diplomat, UN envoy Vitaly Churkin, said yesterday that the carnage in Odessa – a Ukrainian city far from the eastern areas held by rebels – was ‘reminiscent of the crimes of the Nazis from whom the Ukrainian ultra-nationalists derive their ideological inspiration’.

Ukrainian security officials accused close aides of ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, now exiled in Russia, of financing the violence in Odessa on Friday, which led to the deaths of 46 people in a burning building.



Another 200 were injured in the blaze, which is believed to have been started by petrol bombs thrown by demonstrators.

Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is standing in the presidential election, blamed Russian intelligence agencies for the unrest, and said Mr Putin was trying to destabilise her country.

In Moscow, government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin had received ‘thousands’ of demands to intervene in Ukraine.

Destruction: A police bus outside the station has been destroyed by protesters in Odessa

Putin fans: Pro-Russian protesters attend a rally near a barricade in front of the occupied regional administration building in Donetsk A large crowd gathered for a memorial service in honour of the victims of the burned trade union building in Odessa on Sunday, the day after brutal clashes claimed 42 lives In mourning: Relatives hang a Russian flag on the facade of the charred trade union building which saw lives lost on both sides of the conflict Tragedy: A woman cries in front of the trade union building in Odessa as police troops guard what remains of it Street soldiers: Victim of the Trade Union building fire recover in one of the burn unit wards at Yevreyskaya hospital in Odessa

‘People are calling in despair, asking for help,’ he said. ‘The overwhelming majority demand Russian help. All these calls are reported to Vladimir Putin.’

Demanding the presidential election be shelved, Mr Peskov said that after Kiev’s ‘criminal confrontation with its own people’, Russians ‘do not understand what kind of elections Kiev, European countries and Washington are talking about’.

More than 60,000 Russian troops have been moved to the border with Ukraine and the newly annexed Crimea.

After street clashes in Odessa on Friday, a Ukrainian mob overran and set fire to a camp where pro-Moscow supporters had pitched tents, forcing them to take refuge in a trade union building which was then set ablaze. Many of those trapped inside the burning offices were killed by smoke and fumes, according to harrowing accounts yesterday.

Local journalist Oleg Konstantinov, who suffered gunshot wounds in the melee, said: ‘I was hit in the arm, then I started crawling, and then got hit in the back and leg.’

Probe: German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen and the freed OSCE observer, Axel Schneider (second from right), talk after his arrival following his release from captivity

Colonel Schneider, left, is embraced by Vacheslav Ponomarev, the pro-Russian self-proclaimed mayor of Slaviansk, after he and 11 other military observers were freed in the city after being held for a week

Forces: Ukrainian soldiers, supported by armoured personnel carriers, man a checkpoint near the town of Slaviansk A young lookout holds binoculars at a checkpoint near Slaviansk, where Ukrainian soldiers fought fierce battles with rebels yesterday, punctuated only by a short ceasefire to allow OSCE observers to leave the town A man shows bullet casings that he says were shot by Ukrainian troops near the town of Slaviansk A man walks past the charred skeleton of a van outside the hotel Kramatorsk in downtown of Kramatorsk. Local residents say Ukrainian government troops opened fire on a crowd of unarmed protesters Separatist militias armed with assault rifles, a machine gun and a grenade launcher rest in Kramatorsk Fire: A pro-Russian activist burns a Ukrainian national flag as security documents are seized from the Ukrainian regional office of the Security Service in Donetsk

Demonstration: Pro-Russian protesters break up the words 'Ukrainian the Security Service' next to the Ukrainian regional office of the Security Service in Donetsk Mob: A pro Russian woman burns books taken from the Ukrainian regional office in Donetsk

A female doctor who escaped the burning building said: ‘I nearly suffocated. There was no place to escape, people were cornered. People close to me were moaning, crying and calling their relatives, begging them to call the fire brigade.’

Eventually she and others escaped down a rope from a window, but others fell and their bodies were later found in the street.



‘For the first time in my life I want to leave Odessa and Ukraine forever,’ the doctor added.

One positive sign yesterday was the release of seven international military observers working for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The group had been held for a week and were accused of being Nato spies.

In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said their release showed the ‘bravery and humanism’ of the defenders of Slaviansk.