The situation in Odessa appears to be pretty much beyond the control of the local police.
Nearly 70 Pro-Russian Detainees Released in Odessa
Pro-Russian militants stormed a Ukrainian police station in Odessa on Sunday and freed nearly 70 fellow activists as Ukraine’s prime minister blamed police corruption there for dozens of deaths in rioting on Friday.
About 300 pro-Russian activists forced their way into the Odessa police station, gathering in the courtyard, while about a thousand more surrounded the modern complex.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, speaking in Odessa on Sunday, accused Russia of engineering Friday's clashes there that led to the deaths of more than 40 pro-Russian activists in a blazing building.
But he was pointedly critical of the police.
Yatsenyuk suggested the Odessa police were more interested in the fruits of corruption than maintaining order. Had they done their job, he said, ``these terrorist organizations would have been foiled.”
Odessa's police chief was fired on Saturday and Yatsenyuk said other changes in leadership were planned.
As would be expected in the propaganda laden atmosphere there are competing narratives as to what triggered the the carnage on Friday. However, all accounts seem to portray the police as having been inept in dealing with the situation. Now their jail has been over run. It does not seem to be an inaccurate observation that the interim government in Kiev is not in control of large sections of the country.