A gunman shot and killed at least six people in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Saturday before being killed by police, officials said. A further 14 people were injured in the attack, including a 12-year-old boy.
The incident took place in the southern Holosiivskyi district, where Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the attacker, a local resident, began shooting passers-by on the street and then fled into a nearby supermarket, taking hostages. Police negotiators spoke to the gunman for around 40 minutes before a shoot-out ended the stand-off.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said four people had been killed on the street and a woman in her thirties later died in hospital. A hostage was also killed inside the supermarket before the attacker was shot dead. The motive of the assailant, whom officials described as “acting chaotically”, remains unclear.
Kyiv has been under intermittent Russian bombardment throughout the war, but Saturday’s incident was a rare civilian mass shooting inside the capital unconnected to the ongoing conflict. Interior ministry units and a rapid operational response team sealed the area and began an investigation.
The attack is unconnected to the war-front fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said they would release further details once victims had been identified and the crime scene processed. The Holosiivskyi district is a residential area in the city’s south, home to parks, universities and a large retail strip.
