Ukraine's interior minister has suspended two police officers and a criminal investigation has been launched after video footage showed them abandoning wounded civilians — including a child — and fleeing as shots rang out during a deadly mass shooting in the Ukrainian capital. The incident on Saturday left six people dead and fourteen injured in a residential district in southern Kyiv, and has prompted both a public accountability crisis and renewed debate over firearms legislation in wartime Ukraine.
The attack began on Saturday afternoon when a 58-year-old Ukrainian man, identified by media as Dmytro Vasilienkov, opened fire indiscriminately on pedestrians before barricading himself inside a nearby Welmart discount supermarket and taking hostages. Police negotiators failed to secure a resolution, and when the attacker shot one of the hostages, a special forces unit stormed the building and killed him. Among the wounded was a 12-year-old boy. A woman who had been shot later died in hospital. Before the shooting, the attacker had set fire to his own apartment near the scene; a toddler in a neighbouring flat suffered smoke inhalation as a result. The attacker, who was previously convicted following a brawl at a supermarket three years ago, had legally acquired his rifle late last year.
Video circulating on social media showed two uniformed officers — a man and a woman — standing near an injured person on the ground before turning and running as gunfire erupted, leaving civilians exposed. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko condemned their conduct in stark terms on Telegram: "Shameful, unworthy behaviour. It is a disgrace for the whole system." Both officers were suspended pending investigation. The head of Ukraine's patrol police, Yevhen Zhukov, resigned, accepting responsibility for conduct he called "unprofessional and unworthy of police officers." Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko subsequently opened a criminal investigation into the officers' alleged failure to fulfil their duties, with particular attention to leaving a young child at risk.
The attacker's background has attracted media scrutiny. Vasilienkov was born in Moscow and reportedly spent years living in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine — now largely occupied by Russia — before moving to Kyiv. Reports suggest he maintained bank accounts in Russia and spent extended periods there in later years, though he also served in the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut, a Donbas city now under Russian occupation, until 2004 and received a military pension. Ukrainian authorities, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have said investigators are examining multiple scenarios. The security service SBU is involved in the inquiry. Officials have been cautious about attribution, though the attack has been formally classified as a terrorist act. Interior Minister Klymenko described the attacker as "clearly suffering from mental instability."
The shooting has intensified discussion around gun ownership in Ukraine. Klymenko said he supports civilians' right to bear arms, citing the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 when weapons were distributed to citizens for national resistance. However, he ruled out sweeping checks on registered gun owners, instead pledging expert consultations involving lawmakers, journalists, veterans and citizens. The incident also follows a separate firearms incident earlier in the week, in which a 15-year-old student in Zakarpattia, a province in the far southwest of Ukraine, fired a rubber-bullet pistol at classmates, slightly wounding one. Investigators believe the teenager had been contacted and pressured online by unknown individuals.