| Analyse zu den Unruhen in Mariupol am 9. Mai 2014 |  |
"Conclusion
The results of this investigation have shown that on 9 May, Ukrainian forces did not arrive in Mariupol to shoot at police officers and peaceful demonstrators. Instead, they were forced to support Ukrainian forces that were trapped and surrounded by separatist militants inside Mariupol’s police headquarters. The separatist attack was deliberately carried out at the start of the Victory Day march in a successful attempt to cause havoc. At least four men were killed on Kiev’s side, and their local police chief was kidnapped. After Ukrainian forces had withdrawn, most of the city remained in hands of the DPR. Nevertheless, Kiev demonstrated that it wouldn’t give up the city without a fight, and on 13 June, Ukrainian forces successfully recaptured the city.
The foregoing reconstruction of events was produced to counter allegations of Ukrainian forces using excessive force. Not surprisingly, Russia Today referred to the events as a “massacre,” but even mainstream news outlets criticized Ukrainian forces. Shaun Walker, writing in The Guardian, contended that “unarmed civilians were shot at by Ukrainian forces” during their retreat. Anna Neistat of HRW wrote, “My preliminary findings suggest that Ukrainian units might indeed have used excessive force near the drama theater, which resulted in deaths and injuries of some unarmed people.” In Memorial’s final report, the organizers of the anti-terrorist operation were held liable for criminal negligence, as they had failed to arm the soldiers with non-lethal material such as stun grenades and tear gas. They further suggested that the protestors were only armed with Molotov cocktails and stun guns.
The available video evidence shows otherwise: at theatre square soldiers received fire from someone who used a hostile crowd as a human shield. Only afterward did soldiers shoot protestors in the legs. Many of the protestors wrongfully believed that they were under attack by Ukrainian forces, which largely exacerbated the standoffs. At the police headquarters, Ukrainian forces were also attacked by some of the protestors, while simultaneously taking sniper fire. Here too the crowd behaved in an overtly hostile manner, and at least two protestors carried firearms. Though the soldiers did seem inexperienced and unaware that bullets could ricochet, they generally restrained themselves, despite operating under very difficult circumstances."
[https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/01/28/a-reconstruction-of-clashes-in-mariupol-ukraine-9-may-2014/]