The Moscow-born gunman,58,also took hostages and barricaded himself in a supermarket where he was later shot and killed by police (Picture: Reuters/east2west)
At least six people have been killed in a mass shooting in Kyiv earlier today.
The Moscow-born gunman,also took hostages and barricaded himself in a supermarket where he was later shot and killed by police.
Ukraine’s Security Service said the shooting was being investigated as a terrorist act.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address that the shooting happened in the leafy Holosiivskyi district,injuring 14 people,including a 12-year-old boy.
‘He took hostages and unfortunately,one of them was killed,’ Zelensky said.
‘Four people died simply on the street. One woman died in hospital after being seriously wounded.’
A Rapid Operational Response Unit member stands by an armoured vehicle outisde a supermarket (Picture: Reuters)
The gunman was ‘liquidated’ at the scene (Picture: Kyiv Operativny/e2w)
The automatic weapon discarded at the scene (Picture: east2west news)Video from the scene showed emergency crews loading at least one body into an ambulance.Unofficial Telegram channels quoted witnesses saying the gunman had moved down a street shooting people at point-blank range without warning before entering the supermarket.Special tactical units stormed the store after efforts to engage with a negotiator failed.Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed in a Telegram update: ‘The shooter in Kyiv was liquidated during the arrest.‘Special forces of the…national police stormed the store where the attacker was.‘He took people hostage and shot at a policeman during his detention. Before that,negotiators tried to contact him.’
A policeman walks past a hole made from a bullet in a window of the supermarket (Picture: AFP via Getty)Speaking to reporters at the scene,Klymenko said that the gunman had killed four bystanders while on the street,before entering the supermarket and killing a fifth person.Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a sixth victim,a young woman,died from her injuries in the hospital.Zelensky later wrote on social media that the shooter was born in Russia and had lived in Ukraine’s eastern city of Donetsk for a ‘long time’.He also said that the attacker had set fire to his apartment before going out into the street armed.Klymenko said the man was carrying a carbine. The short-barrel assault rifle was legally registered,he added.Last December,the assailant ‘approached the licensing authorities to have the weapon test-fired as the permit was expiring’,he said,adding: ‘He provided a medical certificate. He had also submitted an application to renew his permit for the weapon. That is all we can say for now.’He added that the investigation will determine which medical institution issued the certificate.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .
