At least six people have been killed and 14 others injured after a gunman opened fire on pedestrians in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Saturday before taking hostages inside a nearby supermarket, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Attack
The shooting took place in Kyiv's southern Holosiivskyi district. Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the attacker, a local resident, began firing at people in the street before moving into a supermarket where he held others captive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that four people were shot dead on the street, while a woman believed to be around 30 years old later died from her injuries in hospital. The attacker also killed one of the hostages during the standoff, bringing the total death toll to at least six.
Among those injured was a 12-year-old boy. The precise total number of victims is still being established.
Standoff and Shooter Killed
Police negotiators engaged with the gunman for approximately 40 minutes while he remained inside the supermarket. Klymenko described the attacker as "acting chaotically" and said he did not present any specific demands throughout the standoff.
"We tried to persuade him, realising that there was an injured person there. We offered to bring in tourniquets to stop the bleeding and so on. But he did not respond, so the order was given to eliminate him, especially after he killed one of the hostages."
The attacker was subsequently shot and killed by police during a confrontation inside the supermarket.
Who Was the Shooter?
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko identified the gunman as a 58-year-old man originally from Moscow, Russia, who carried out the attack using an automatic weapon. Officials confirmed that the weapon was legally registered, and an investigation has been launched into both the circumstances of the permit's issuance and the shooting itself.
President Zelensky noted that the man had lived for a long time in the eastern Donetsk region — an area largely under Russian occupation that was also the site of a separatist conflict prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Before carrying out the attack, the man reportedly set fire to his own apartment.
His precise motive remains unknown at this stage.
Context
While Kyiv regularly faces Russian missile and drone strikes as part of the ongoing war, incidents involving individual gunmen of this nature are considered rare in the city. Authorities are continuing to investigate all aspects of the case, including the shooter's background and how he came to be in possession of a registered automatic weapon.
