Investigators examine whether Ukraine terrorist attack was directed by Russia | Ukraine
Ukrainian investigators are investigating whether a terrorist attack in Kiev was orchestrated by Moscow after a man shot six people before being killed by police on Saturday.
The 58-year-old gunman barricaded himself in a supermarket and held people hostage before opening fire on passersby. Detectives closed the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a standoff of 40 minutes.
Speaking in his night video speech, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that police and security forces were trying to determine the cause of the “tragic” attack. He said about 14 people were injured, including a 12-year-old child.
“He took hostages and unfortunately killed one of them,” Zelenskyy added. “He shot and killed 4 more people on the street, and a woman was seriously injured and died in the hospital. I offer my condolences to the families and relatives of the victims.”
Local media reported that the perpetrator was Moscow-born Ukrainian citizen Dmytro Vasylchenkov. He previously lived in Ryazan, Russia, and was a long-time resident of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region. Zelenskyy said he has a criminal record.
Vasylchenkov had multiple Russian bank accounts and a Russian phone number until at least 2021, according to a leaked Russian database. He traveled to Russia several times in 2016.
Reports said he posted anti-Ukrainian and anti-Semitic content on social media and denied Ukraine’s right to exist as a country. He also dreamed of “cleansing” society using Hitler’s methods and regretted that Russia’s capture of Bakhmut in 2023 had not occurred sooner.
It is not yet known what contact he has with Russia. Kremlin officials have recruited more than 800 mostly young Ukrainians in the past two years to carry out attacks on critical infrastructure and draft offices. Authorities say the aim is to spread uncertainty, fear and mistrust.
Shootings of this nature are extremely rare in Ukraine. Tymofii Solovei, a paramedic at the scene, said: “He’s either crazy or this is a Russian terrorist attack. We don’t know how long he’s been preparing for this. He might be communicating with someone in Russia.”
Before starting his killing spree, Vasylchenkov set fire to his fifth-floor house. Heavy smoke rose from the window of the apartment. He then went out into the street, shooting at people randomly and heading towards a busy boulevard and shopping mall.
Police blockaded the area on Saturday evening. Two bodies wrapped in silver foil lay near the entrance to the gunman’s building. Toys lay abandoned in a nearby playground. In the video, the gunman is seen executing a person and then calmly running down the road.
Student Tymofii Sergiichuk said: “This shocked me. We have pretty good security in Kiev and there has been nothing like this since the beginning of the war.” “People are already nervous right now. This has made them more scared,” he added.
Speaking outside the Velmart supermarket, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko said the suspect was the legal owner of a semi-automatic weapon. He fired “chaotically” at everyone he encountered, firing a single round with his carbine. Officers tried to negotiate with him but were unsuccessful.
The minister added: “We tried to persuade him. When we realized there was a possibility that there was someone injured inside, we offered to bring a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, etc. But he did not respond. So the order was given to eliminate him. Especially after he killed one of the hostages.”
Klymenko refused to explain the reason for the attack. “Investigators are working on it right now,” he said. “They reveal the facts.”
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said that the incident was considered a terrorist crime. He posted a photo showing a blurry prone figure covered in blood inside a store and a gun lying nearby.
Additional reporting PJotr Sauer
