On a Saturday in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a violent mass shooting left at least six people dead, ending after law enforcement special forces stormed the local supermarket where the attacker had barricaded himself and taken hostages, killing the gunman during the confrontation, senior Ukrainian officials confirmed.
Ihor Klymenko, head of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, announced the outcome of the incident in an official social media statement, noting that the tactical raid was launched after hours of negotiation attempts failed to draw a cooperative response from the shooter. According to Klymenko’s on-site remarks to reporters, the attacker did not begin the violence inside the store: he first shot and killed four innocent bystanders on an adjacent public street before moving into the supermarket, where he killed a fifth person inside the building. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later confirmed that a sixth fatality, a young woman who had been wounded in the attack, succumbed to her injuries while receiving treatment at a local hospital.
An Associated Press journalist who arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting began observed multiple victim bodies lying on the street, covered by emergency blankets before being removed by medical personnel.
Klymenko shared key details about the assailant: the man was born in 1962, and was carrying a legally registered short-barrel carbine assault rifle at the time of the attack. No further information about his identity or motive was released immediately, but Klymenko confirmed that police negotiators spent roughly 40 minutes attempting to de-escalate the situation before ordering the raid. Footage from the scene captured a female negotiator, protected by body armor and an armored police vehicle, using a megaphone to urge the gunman to release unharmed hostages, telling him “the people are not to blame for this. Please, let them go and we will talk with you.”
Klymenko added that negotiation teams even offered to send medical supplies including tourniquets into the building to treat a wounded person the team believed was being held inside, but the gunman never responded to any outreach. “Consequently, the order was given to neutralize him,” Klymenko said.
Investigators are currently reviewing how the attacker obtained his legal weapons permit. Klymenko explained that the gunman had applied to renew his expiring weapons permit in December of the previous year, which required a medical certification to confirm he was fit to own a firearm. The investigation will now focus on identifying which medical facility issued that certificate, to determine if any regulatory failures contributed to the attack.
The shooting unfolded in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, one of the capital’s central residential and administrative areas. Broadcast footage from the scene shows uniformed officers taking cover throughout the multi-tenant shopping mall that houses the targeted supermarket while exchanges of gunfire were ongoing, with emergency teams escorting dozens of unharmed bystanders out of the secured area.
Associated Press writer Katie Marie Davies, based in Manchester, England, contributed reporting to this account.