More than 30 people were killed in a “criminal” blaze in Ukraine’s southern city of Odessa, as violence spread across the country on Friday during the bloodiest day since Kiev’s Western-backed government took power.
Ukraine’s interior ministry said at least 31 people had died in the fire with local media reporting that pro-Russian militants were believed to have been in the building at the time.
Most of those who were killed died from smoke inhalation, while others perished trying to escape by jumping out of windows.
News of the deaths came after a day of violent clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian militants, with reports of renewed fighting in Slavyansk late on Friday leading to the death of two more Ukrainian soldiers, meaning at least nine people had been killed in clashes in the flashpoint town throughout the day.
The diplomatic war of words also intensified as the United States threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions within three weeks over what Washington called its continued “destabilisation” of Ukraine.
President Barack Obama threatened to expand punitive sanctions to broad sections of the Russian economy if Moscow continued to foment chaos in the former Soviet republic ahead of planned May 25 presidential elections.
“If in fact we see the disruptions and the destabilisation continuing so severely that it impedes elections on May 25, we will not have a choice but to move forward with additional… severe sanctions,” Obama said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“If Russia continues on its current course, we have a range of tools at our disposal, including sanctions that would target certain sectors of the Russian economy,” Obama said.
Previously the administration has said such measures would only come into force if Russia sent its estimated 40,000 troops on the border into Ukraine.
