The event, organized by the local administration, sparked an angry outcry from locals after a soldier began a speech on his service in the "anti-terrorist operation" in eastern Ukraine. The soldier's speech was met with cries from the crowd, people shouting "Shame!" "Bastards!" "Screw You!" "Murderers!" "Fascists!" and "You're killing your own people!"
The meeting was attended by state officials, including the mayor, regional officials, and members of parliament, along with religious leaders and veterans' organizations.
The Deputy Chairwoman of Nikolaev's Regional Administration called the fiasco "a criminal theatrical production aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian state," along with "the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ministry of Interior, who support public order and peace in the south of the country."
Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin, whose reaction to events has already been reposted and retweeted hundreds of times, asked "What is going on?…Is this a city of saboteurs? Or maybe that the fact that Maidan succeeded in Kiev does not mean it applies to the whole of Ukraine? And if in Kharkov, Zaporozhe and Odessa tens of thousands of people were arrested, intimidated and dispersed, does this mean that they simply no longer exist? And what if they do?"
The city of Nikolaev, with a population of half-a-million people, serves as the administrative center of the Nikolaev Region, and is a major shipbuilding center on the Black Sea.
