Yes, he agreed, it was. On May 2, 2014, some forty-two anti-Maidan, pro-Russian activists died in a fire in Odessa after running street battles with pro-Ukrainians in which some five others died. Then the declaration of rebel republics in the east did not result in the regions being snapped off cleanly like Crimea and people becoming instantly better off, but in war. In those circumstances, the wind began to change. In the center of Tatarbunary, a couple of hours’ drive south-west of Odessa, there is a classic Soviet-era memorial.
