Gunman Kills 6 in Kyiv Supermarket Siege

KYIV: A gunman armed with an automatic weapon killed six people and wounded at least 14 others in Ukraine’s capital on Saturday, before being shot dead by police after a brief hostage standoff inside a supermarket. The 58-year-old attacker opened fire in a busy central district of Kyiv, killing several people on the street before barricading himself inside a nearby store with customers and staff. One hostage was killed during the siege, while another victim later died in hospital from severe injuries, according to officials. Police said negotiations failed during the roughly 40-minute standoff, prompting special tactical units to storm the building and “neutralize” the assailant. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said officers attempted to communicate with the gunman and even offered medical aid for a wounded hostage, but received no response. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the suspect had a prior criminal record, had lived for years in the Donetsk region, and was born in Russia. Authorities are still working to determine a motive. Officials added that the attacker had set fire to an apartment before launching the shooting and possessed a valid firearms permit. Ukraine’s security service (SBU) classified the incident as an act of terrorism. Mass shootings are extremely rare in Kyiv, particularly since the start of Russian invasion of Ukraine, when violence in the capital has largely been linked to the ongoing war rather than isolated civilian attacks. Residents in the Holosiivskyi district said the gunman was known locally but kept to himself.



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