Police have detained Ruslan Velyky, former first deputy head of the State Department of the Emergencies Ministry of Ukraine in Odesa Oblast, in suspicion of professional inactivity during the fire at the Trade Unions House on May 2, 2014 in Odesa, that lead to the death of 42 people and injuries to 200 people.
Officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police have established the whereabouts of Velyky and detained him on July 26 during the special operation in Odesa, First Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine Viacheslav Abroskin wrote on Facebook.
“The detainee has been evading the investigation since 2016 and was on the wanted list. A court has chosen a pre-trial preventive measure against him in the form of detention on remand,” Abroskin wrote.
As reported, on May 2, 2014, 48 people died and 200 were injured due to the mass riots and fire in Odesa. The investigation revealed that the riots in Odesa were organized and deliberately planned by Russia.
Different Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have launched about ten criminal inquiries into different episodes of the incident. Some of them are being heard at courts.
Odesa police have substantively advanced in the investigation into the May 2, 2014 events, chief of the National Police Main Directorate for the Odesa region Dmytro Holovyn said at a special briefing on April 28.
