Kyiv Hostage Crisis Ends: Six Dead in Shootout

Kyiv faced a rare mass shooting on Saturday when a gunman opened fire in the city’s southern Holosiivskyi district, killing at least six people and injuring 14 others, officials said. The attack began on the street and later moved into a supermarket where the assailant took hostages, according to Ukrainian authorities.

 

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said police ultimately killed the attacker during a shootout. Officials said the gunman killed one hostage before officers ended the standoff.

 

Authorities reported that four people died at the scene on the street. Officials added that another victim later died in hospital, bringing the death toll to at least six. Among the 14 injured was a 12-year-old boy, officials said.

 

Police negotiators were in contact with the gunman for about 40 minutes, officials said. During that period, the attacker made no demands and behaved erratically, according to the Interior Ministry’s account of the incident.

 

Officials identified the assailant as a 58-year-old man from Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the shooter had lived for a long time in the eastern Donetsk region and had set fire to his apartment before carrying out the attack.

 

Authorities said the gunman used an officially registered automatic weapon. Investigators are examining how the permit was issued and are working to establish the full circumstances of the shooting, officials said.

 

Kyiv has repeatedly come under attack linked to the ongoing war with Russia, but officials noted that this kind of shooting incident is uncommon in the capital. The episode added a separate layer of security concern for residents and local authorities, distinct from the more familiar wartime threats.