Law-enforcers have detained Ruslan Velyky, former First Deputy Head of the State Department of the Emergencies Ministry of Ukraine in Odesa region, who when performing official duties did not take steps to use available forces and means to extinguish the fire at the Trade Unions House on May 2, 2014 in Odesa, when 42 people died and 125 people were injured.

Officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police have established the whereabouts of Velyky and detained him on Wednesday during the special operation in Odesa, First Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine Viacheslav Abroskin wrote in his Facebook page.

"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. Most victims of the tragedy died at the Trade Unions House. The investigation revealed that the riots in Odesa were organized and deliberately planned.

Various law enforcement agencies of Ukraine started about a dozen criminal proceedings into different facts. In particular, the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Odesa region launched a series of criminal proceedings into the facts of injury and death of people in clashes of pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists. Later, the Central Investigation Department of Ukrainian Interior Ministry in Odesa region took over these criminal proceedings. Some of these cases have already been transferred to court. The most high-profile of them is the case on the events on the Hretska Square, where the first clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists occurred. There are more than 20 suspects in this case, including two Russian citizens. They are all representatives of the so-called Antimaidan movement.