Ukraine’s interior minister announced on Sunday that two police officers had been suspended after a video was posted online showing them fleeing the scene of the shooting in Kyiv, which left six people dead.
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An armed man opened fire and took hostages in a supermarket in a residential district of the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, before being shot dead during an attempt to arrest him.
In footage broadcast by Ukrainian media, a male and a female officer in uniform and yellow vests can be seen standing next to a person lying on the ground, before fleeing as shots ring out, leaving behind civilians, including a child.
“Shameful, unworthy behaviour. It is a disgrace for the whole system. They have been suspended and an investigation is under way,” interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
The officers caught on camera have been suspended from duty for the duration of the investigation.
Klymenko also stressed that the behaviour of just two officers should not be used to generalise about the entire police force.
Police have yet to establish a motive for the shooting, although it has now been officially classified as a terrorist act, but Klymenko said the attacker “was clearly suffering from mental instability”.
“It is necessary to examine how he obtained the medical certificates required to renew his gun licence,” the minister added, while making clear there would be no systematic checks on gun owners, who are legally required to register their weapons.
He pledged to hold “expert discussions with the participation of MPs, citizens, journalists and veterans” on firearms legislation.
On the question of granting civilians the right to own firearms, including handguns, the interior minister said, “I believe people should have the right to defend themselves with weapons. Especially after seeing, at the start of the full-scale invasion, civilians being given weapons for the national resistance.”
Patrol police chief resigns
The head of Ukraine’s national police, Ivan Vyhovskyi, whom the minister tasked with the inquiry, announced that an internal investigation had been opened, and later on Sunday prosecutor general Ruslan Kravtchenko announced the launch of a criminal investigation into alleged failures by the police officers to fulfil their professional duties.
“All the actions of law enforcement at the time when citizens’ lives were in serious danger, including leaving a young child at risk and failing to neutralise the assailant in time, will be subject to appropriate legal assessment,” the prosecutor general said.
The head of Ukraine’s patrol police department, Yevhen Zhukov, meanwhile resigned over the officers’ behaviour, which he described as “shameful”.
“The officers acted unprofessionally and in a manner unworthy of police officers. They arrived at the scene and were supposed to help and save our fellow citizens. They lost their bearings and left wounded civilians in danger,” he said.
Zhukov said one of the patrol officers had been in the police since 2024, and his female partner since 2015.
According to Zhukov, the patrol officer should have drawn his weapon and fired a warning shot, then used it, “But he made a mistake and, unfortunately, did not use it,” the patrol police chief said.
Ukraine’s interior minister announced on Sunday that two police officers had been suspended after a video was posted online showing them fleeing the scene of the shooting in Kyiv, which left six people dead.
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An armed man opened fire and took hostages in a supermarket in a residential district of the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, before being shot dead during an attempt to arrest him.
In footage broadcast by Ukrainian media, a male and a female officer in uniform and yellow vests can be seen standing next to a person lying on the ground, before fleeing as shots ring out, leaving behind civilians, including a child.
“Shameful, unworthy behaviour. It is a disgrace for the whole system. They have been suspended and an investigation is under way,” interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
The officers caught on camera have been suspended from duty for the duration of the investigation.
Klymenko also stressed that the behaviour of just two officers should not be used to generalise about the entire police force.
Police have yet to establish a motive for the shooting, although it has now been officially classified as a terrorist act, but Klymenko said the attacker “was clearly suffering from mental instability”.
“It is necessary to examine how he obtained the medical certificates required to renew his gun licence,” the minister added, while making clear there would be no systematic checks on gun owners, who are legally required to register their weapons.
He pledged to hold “expert discussions with the participation of MPs, citizens, journalists and veterans” on firearms legislation.
On the question of granting civilians the right to own firearms, including handguns, the interior minister said, “I believe people should have the right to defend themselves with weapons. Especially after seeing, at the start of the full-scale invasion, civilians being given weapons for the national resistance.”
Patrol police chief resigns
The head of Ukraine’s national police, Ivan Vyhovskyi, whom the minister tasked with the inquiry, announced that an internal investigation had been opened, and later on Sunday prosecutor general Ruslan Kravtchenko announced the launch of a criminal investigation into alleged failures by the police officers to fulfil their professional duties.
“All the actions of law enforcement at the time when citizens’ lives were in serious danger, including leaving a young child at risk and failing to neutralise the assailant in time, will be subject to appropriate legal assessment,” the prosecutor general said.
The head of Ukraine’s patrol police department, Yevhen Zhukov, meanwhile resigned over the officers’ behaviour, which he described as “shameful”.
“The officers acted unprofessionally and in a manner unworthy of police officers. They arrived at the scene and were supposed to help and save our fellow citizens. They lost their bearings and left wounded civilians in danger,” he said.
Zhukov said one of the patrol officers had been in the police since 2024, and his female partner since 2015.
According to Zhukov, the patrol officer should have drawn his weapon and fired a warning shot, then used it, “But he made a mistake and, unfortunately, did not use it,” the patrol police chief said.
#police #officers #suspended #fleeing #Kyiv #shooting #sceneTerrorist attack,Police,Terrorism,Shootings,Kyiv">Two police officers suspended after fleeing Kyiv shooting scene
By Serge Duchêne
Published on
Ukraine’s interior minister announced on Sunday that two police officers had been suspended after a video was posted online showing them fleeing the scene of the shooting in Kyiv, which left six people dead.
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An armed man opened fire and took hostages in a supermarket in a residential district of the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, before being shot dead during an attempt to arrest him.
In footage broadcast by Ukrainian media, a male and a female officer in uniform and yellow vests can be seen standing next to a person lying on the ground, before fleeing as shots ring out, leaving behind civilians, including a child.
“Shameful, unworthy behaviour. It is a disgrace for the whole system. They have been suspended and an investigation is under way,” interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
The officers caught on camera have been suspended from duty for the duration of the investigation.
Klymenko also stressed that the behaviour of just two officers should not be used to generalise about the entire police force.
Police have yet to establish a motive for the shooting, although it has now been officially classified as a terrorist act, but Klymenko said the attacker “was clearly suffering from mental instability”.
“It is necessary to examine how he obtained the medical certificates required to renew his gun licence,” the minister added, while making clear there would be no systematic checks on gun owners, who are legally required to register their weapons.
He pledged to hold “expert discussions with the participation of MPs, citizens, journalists and veterans” on firearms legislation.
On the question of granting civilians the right to own firearms, including handguns, the interior minister said, “I believe people should have the right to defend themselves with weapons. Especially after seeing, at the start of the full-scale invasion, civilians being given weapons for the national resistance.”
Patrol police chief resigns
The head of Ukraine’s national police, Ivan Vyhovskyi, whom the minister tasked with the inquiry, announced that an internal investigation had been opened, and later on Sunday prosecutor general Ruslan Kravtchenko announced the launch of a criminal investigation into alleged failures by the police officers to fulfil their professional duties.
“All the actions of law enforcement at the time when citizens’ lives were in serious danger, including leaving a young child at risk and failing to neutralise the assailant in time, will be subject to appropriate legal assessment,” the prosecutor general said.
The head of Ukraine’s patrol police department, Yevhen Zhukov, meanwhile resigned over the officers’ behaviour, which he described as “shameful”.
“The officers acted unprofessionally and in a manner unworthy of police officers. They arrived at the scene and were supposed to help and save our fellow citizens. They lost their bearings and left wounded civilians in danger,” he said.
Zhukov said one of the patrol officers had been in the police since 2024, and his female partner since 2015.
According to Zhukov, the patrol officer should have drawn his weapon and fired a warning shot, then used it, “But he made a mistake and, unfortunately, did not use it,” the patrol police chief said.
#Kyiv #gunman #kills #takes #hostages #shot #dead #Ukraine #policeUkrainian, Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky, supermarket, Holosiivskyi district, Vitali Klitschko, Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko">Kyiv gunman kills 6, takes hostages before being shot dead by Ukraine police
A gunman who killed at least six people in the streets of Kyiv on Saturday before taking hostages and barricading himself in a nearby supermarket has been shot dead by police, Ukrainian officials said.
The head of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, Ihor Klymenko, said in a statement on social media that special tactical police units stormed the store after attempts to contact the gunman with a negotiator failed.
The attacker was killed while resisting arrest, he said.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, Klymenko said that the government 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, had died from her injuries in the hospital.
Special forces officers evacuate a hostage at the site of a shooting incident, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Klymenko said that police negotiators spoke with the attacker for roughly 40 minutes before storming the building.
#Failing #ExUK #Boris #Johnson #criticises #timidity #UkraineBritish, Ukrainian, Kyiv, Ukraine, Boris Johnson, Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainians, Russia">‘Failing to help’: Ex-UK PM Boris Johnson criticises ‘timidity’ over Ukraine
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has hit out at the “delay” and “timidity” in helping Ukraine after travelling through the country unprotected during a 72-hour trip for a documentary.
The former prime minister travelled beyond the capital Kyiv to the so-called kill zone near the city of Zaporizhzhia where he witnessed first-hand the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The 61-year-old said Ukraine can and will win the war, but that “we are risibly failing to live up to our pledges” to the country.
Johnson said: “The Ukrainians are fighting the same war against the same drones that are being sent against civilians by the same alliance of tyrannies.”
“We have spent four years psalming platitudes and telling them that their fight is our fight.”
03:45
Boris Johnson’s rise to power and what led to his downfall as UK prime minister
Boris Johnson’s rise to power and what led to his downfall as UK prime minister
“On the basis of what I have seen, we are risibly failing to live up to our pledges, and to give them the help they need.”
#Failing #ExUK #Boris #Johnson #criticises #timidity #UkraineBritish, Ukrainian, Kyiv, Ukraine, Boris Johnson, Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainians, Russia
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has hit out at the “delay” and “timidity” in…
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