Gunman who killed at least 6, took hostages in Ukraine supermarket shot dead by police

A gunman wielding an automatic weapon killed six people and barricaded himself inside a supermarket with hostages in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday, before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.

At least 14 people were wounded and taken to hospital.

The 58-year-old attacker was not named by police, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was born in Russia, as authorities worked to piece together a motive for the violence.

The mass shooting — unheard of in wartime Kyiv following Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — took place in a busy central district of the city, outside an apartment block and a nearby shopping centre, leaving bodies on a crowded street as bystanders fled for safety.

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

“The assailant has been neutralized. He had taken hostages and, tragically, killed one of them. He also murdered four people on the street. Another woman died in the hospital due to severe injuries,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted online.

Zelenskyy later wrote on social media that the shooter was born in Russia and had lived in Ukraine’s eastern city of Donetsk for a “long time.” He also said that the attacker had set fire to his apartment before going out into the street armed.

Ukraine’s special tactical police units stormed the supermarket after attempts to contact the gunman with a negotiator failed, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

The hostages were supermarket customers and staff.

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

The minister said the gunman had a valid firearms permit.

During the 40-minute standoff, a female negotiator wearing body armour and standing behind an armoured vehicle used a loudspeaker to call out to the assailant, saying: “The people are not to blame for this. Please let them go, and we will talk with you.”

Ukraine’s security service, or SBU, described the killings as an act of terrorism.

The shooting took place in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, where several residents said they recognized the gunman.

“I knew him by sight. He seemed like an educated, refined man. You’d never guess he was some kind of criminal,” said Hanna Kulyk, 75, who lived in the same apartment block as the attacker.

“He didn’t socialize much with people — just a greeting and he’d be on his way,” she said. “He lived alone.”