On a tense Saturday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, a violent mass shooting left five people dead after a gunman opened fire on civilians, seized hostages inside a local supermarket, and was ultimately killed by security forces during an intervention, senior Ukrainian officials confirmed. The deadly incident unfolded in a densely populated residential neighborhood in southern Kyiv, leaving at least 10 additional people hospitalized with physical wounds and acute psychological trauma, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Unverified footage circulating via Ukrainian news outlet UNIAN, which AFP has not been able to independently authenticate, shows the armed suspect firing at an individual from point-blank range near a nearby apartment block moments before the siege began. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that after the initial street shooting, the attacker fled into the neighborhood supermarket, where continuous gunshots were heard by witnesses inside the building. By the end of the operation, four hostages held inside the retail store had been safely extracted, Zelenskyy announced in an update posted to social media.
“The attacker who opened fire on unarmed civilians in Kyiv has been eliminated,” the president stated, extending official condolences to the loved ones of those killed in the attack. An AFP correspondent on the scene observed the supermarket surrounded by a heavy cordon of security forces, with visible bloodstains on the store’s front window, bulletproof-vested officers securing the perimeter, and specialized crime investigation units processing evidence at the site.
As of Saturday evening, authorities had not released any confirmed information about the gunman’s possible motives. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko identified the assailant as a 58-year-old man born in Moscow, adding that initial investigative findings indicate the suspect carried out the attack using an automatic weapon.
One supermarket employee, Tetyana, who spoke to AFP from the scene, described the chaotic start of the incident, saying the initial gunshots sounded deceptively mundane at first. “I heard sounds in the store, like champagne being popped or balloons bursting several times. Then the customers started shouting, ‘Run!’” She recalled hiding with other staff behind large refrigeration units, where she could hear a wounded man moaning in pain, her voice shaking as she recounted the experience.
Interior Minister Igor Klymenko told reporters that the standoff between the attacker and police negotiators dragged on for roughly 40 minutes, with law enforcement attempting to de-escalate the situation peacefully before making the decision to use lethal force. “We tried to persuade him. Realising that there was likely an injured person inside, we offered to bring in tourniquets to stop the bleeding… But he didn’t respond,” Klymenko explained. “That’s why the order was given to eliminate him,” he added, confirming that the gunman had killed one of the hostages he had taken before the intervention.
It is worth noting that while Ukraine has been engaged in a full-scale war with Russia for more than four years, which has brought widespread violence from military conflict, the country maintains a relatively low rate of domestic violent crime, with mass shooting incidents remaining rare. The most recent comparable event occurred last year in a Kyiv suburb, where a man shot and killed two people during a dispute over the illegal sale of a firearm. Zelenskyy has called for a rapid, full investigation to uncover all details and circumstances surrounding Saturday’s attack.