6 killed after gunman opens fire in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say

A gunman who killed at least six people in the Ukrainian capital kyiv before taking hostages and barricading himself in a supermarket on Saturday was shot and killed by police, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian police special tactical units stormed the store after attempts to contact the shooter with a negotiator failed, Ukrainian Interior Ministry head Ihor Klymenko said in a statement posted on social media. The attacker was killed while resisting arrest, he said.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Klymenko said the gunman killed four bystanders while on the street, before entering the supermarket and killing a fifth person.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a sixth victim, a young woman, died of her injuries in hospital.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw the victims’ bodies in the street covered with emergency blankets before being taken away.

Klymenko said the shooter was born in 1968, but gave no further details about his identity. Police negotiators spoke with the attacker for about 40 minutes before storming the building, he said.

Before the gunman was shot, a female police negotiator, wearing a bulletproof vest and standing behind an armored vehicle, used a loudspeaker to challenge the attacker, telling him: “People are not responsible for this. Please let them go and we will talk to you.”

“We tried to persuade him, knowing that there was probably a wounded person inside. We even offered to bring tourniquets to stop the bleeding, but he did not respond,” Klymenko said. “As a result, the order was given to neutralize him.”

Klymenko, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, said the man was carrying a rifle. The short-barreled assault rifle was legally registered, he added.

Last December, the attacker “approached the licensing authorities to have his weapon tested when the license was about to expire. He provided a medical certificate. He also submitted an application to renew his license for this weapon. That’s all we can say for now,” Klymenko said.

He added that the investigation will determine which medical institution issued the certificate.

The shooting took place in the Holosiivskyi district of kyiv, the mayor said. Television footage from the scene showed police taking cover in the shopping center housing the supermarket as shots were fired. Bystanders were escorted from the scene.

Shooting comes as Russia, Ukraine strike

Also on Saturday, a civilian was killed in Donetsk and dozens more were injured in nighttime attacks by Russia. Local authorities said at least 26 people were injured in attacks in northern and eastern Ukraine, including a strike on port infrastructure in the city of Odessa.

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian drone strike targeted industrial zones in Novokuybyshevsk and Syzran in Russia’s Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Saturday. He did not give further details, but the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement that the attack hit major oil refineries in both cities. It also said its attacks sparked fires at the Vystosk oil terminal in Russia’s northwest Leningrad region and at an oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region, fires later confirmed by Russian officials.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces destroyed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight in 16 Russian regions, as well as Ukraine’s annexed Crimea peninsula and the Black Sea and Sea of ​​Azov.