A gunman opened fire in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Saturday, killing six people and wounding more than a dozen others, authorities said.
Five people died at the scene and a young woman later died in hospital. The assailant also took hostages and was shot dead after security forces spent about 40 minutes negotiating with him.
“My condolences to the families and the loved ones,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said the attack occurred in the Holosiivskyi district and that 14 people had been injured. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a “special operation” was launched after the attacker entered a supermarket, causing injuries and several fatalities.
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said one of the wounded was a 12-year-old boy whose parents were killed in the attack.
Televised footage showed police taking cover inside the mall that housed the supermarket as gunfire rang out and bystanders were escorted away.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the suspect was killed while being arrested, adding that the attacker had taken hostages and fired at officers during the arrest attempt. Klymenko described the assailant as shooting victims at close range, leaving them little chance of survival.
President Zelenskyy said the gunman was born in Russia and that investigators were clarifying all circumstances and motives. Kravchenko said the shooter was born in Moscow in 1958. Local media reported the attacker likely held Ukrainian citizenship and had long lived in the Donbas region, a focal point of the war with Russia.
Authorities said the suspect had a registered firearm and a criminal record, and that he had set fire to his apartment before the shooting. Ukraine’s SBU security service has classified the incident as a “terrorist act.” Shootings are rare in Ukraine.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery