9 years since what?
Russians haven't forgotten the Odessa Trades Union House fire
On May 2 2014, 48 people were killed in the Odessa Trades Union House. The building was set on fire by Ukrainian nationalists and the people who died were anti-Maidan protesters, but not all the people who died were killed by the fire. Some jumped from windows and either died from the fall or were beaten to death on the ground. There is a shocking photograph of a heavily-pregnant woman lying dead across a desk, in a room untouched by fire. Other dead bodies were found burnt in rooms that show no fire damage. One woman whose body was body was burnt is naked from the waist down. None of the perpetrators have been brought to justice in Ukraine, despite copious video evidence. The police did not intervene to help people escape the fire, as they feared for their own safety.
Articles like the BBC's report that 'eyewitnesses' say the violence started as a result of a march staged by ultras (i.e. hardcore football hooligans) in support of the newly-formed coup government in Kiev being “ambushed by pro-Russian activists”. Those ‘pro-Russian activists’ were a group of anti-Maidan protesters who had set up an encampment outside the Trades Union House. Their tents were burnt and they were forced into the building, the exits were barricaded and the building was set on fire with Molotov cocktails.
The day after the fire, the BBC published an article called 'Voices from Odessa', which includes alleged interviews with 2 female students from Kiev. There is only text, no audio or video for you to watch or listen to, to decide for yourself whether you believe what they are saying. One should be extremely sceptical of articles that include quotes from 'interviews' but don't show you the interview, because these could simply be made up from whole cloth.
One of these students claims that the 'pro-Russians' - and that's a very questionable term for people protesting against a coup that had just ousted their democratically-elected government - attacked the football fans, and even that they had guns. She says that although she wasn't there, she knows that “both sides were throwing Molotov cocktails”. She says that “on this occasion it does appear that the pro-Russians were more the victims” - yeah no shit, they were entirely the victims.
This article in Counterpunch paints a very different picture. It is as much about the west's coverage of events as it is about what happened, because the two are inextricable and virtually irreconcilable. Those in the west who were even aware that this had happened (and I admit that I was not aware of it at the time) were led to believe that pro-Russians were agitating peaceful Ukrainians who just wanted to celebrate their national unity, when the reality was the exact opposite.
The tragic, criminal, terroristic events of May 2 2014 are one of the injustices for which the Russians say they are conducting the Special Military Operation, and yet it gets no mention in our media. It's just another minor detail that doesn't qualify as a provocation against Russia and Russians, in our media narrative in which the Russian invasion was unprovoked. Russia doesn't see it that way, and they don't care if we understand or not.