“The operation was very complex. There was very little time.” That is how an officer from Kyiv’s rapid-response unit KORD described the raid on a supermarket in the Holosiivskyi district on April 18, where a gunman who had already killed people on the street was holding hostages.
The attacker was killed by police. At least six people died and 14 were injured, including a 12-year-old boy. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said the shooter was a 58-year-old native of Moscow who used an automatic weapon. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the man had lived in the Donetsk region for years and had faced criminal prosecution before. “It is now being determined what can be known about him and his motive,” Zelensky said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko gave the breakdown of the dead. Five were first reported killed, four on the street and one inside the supermarket. A wounded woman, about 30 years old, later died in hospital, which brought the toll to six. Doctors also treated six victims at the scene, among them a four-month-old child with carbon monoxide poisoning from an apartment near the one the attacker set on fire.
Officials said the gunman fired at a police officer during the operation. Negotiators had tried first to reach a peaceful end. The KORD officer, who was not named, said the man “refused to communicate and was unwilling to make any compromises,” and that many civilians were inside. Special forces stormed the building, and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that the suspect was eliminated as they moved in.
The weapon was a registered hunting carbine, Klymenko said, and the shooter had the medical certificate required to use it. Prosecutors are checking which medical institution issued that certificate. “The weapon (the assailant) used was legal, purchased from a store, registered, and tested,” the minister said. Asked by the Kyiv Independent about civilian gun carry, he said it was “not a topic for today’s discussion.” The debate over the issue is an old one in Ukraine, where legislation has sat stalled in parliament for years.
The aftermath turned to the police themselves. On April 19, Kravchenko said a criminal case had been opened into alleged negligence by officers during the attack. The State Bureau of Investigation will examine whether police acted too slowly, including possible endangerment of a child and delays in stopping the attacker.
The same day, Yevhen Zhukov, head of Ukraine’s patrol police, resigned after backlash over the response, though he said he would stay in the Interior Ministry. Klymenko had earlier called the officers’ actions “shameful” and said they were suspended pending the investigation.
Shootings of this kind are rare in Ukraine. Investigators from the National Police and the Security Service are still working to establish the full circumstances.
