FIREFIGHTERS rejected a motion yesterday condemning Nato imperialism in Ukraine after their leader attacked it as “utterly one-sided.”

The motion, moved by the FBU’s Merseyside branch, deplored the deaths of 46 people locked inside a burning trade union building in the “Odessa massacre” of May 2014.

“Protesters seeking protection inside the building, when trying to escape from the fire by jumping from the windows, were beaten to death or shot by the fascists outside,” the motion stated.

It said “ultra-right, paramilitary, neonazi gangs” had “seized and burned government offices, killed riot police and spread mayhem and terror across the country.”

It said the current Ukrainian government had “seized power by a coup d’etat and by the open imperialist intervention of the US and the EU.”

But Merseyside brigade secretary Mark Rowe said voting for the motion would only be taking a stand “very specific to a single event on May 2 2014.

“The resolution does not seek to take sides, but we cannot be indifferent to the deaths in eastern Ukraine,” he added, before reading a moving testimonial from a survivor of the blaze.

Opposing the motion, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said the motion “utterly ignores the role of Russia, which plays an imperialist role in the region.

“There are fascists on both sides [of the conflict in Ukraine], and we as trade unionists should take no side on which group of fascists we support,” he said.

Mr Rowe said: “Naturally we call for peace on all sides … We condemn violence on all sides.”