A gunman opened fire on people in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on Saturday, killing five and wounding several others, Ukrainian authorities said.
The gunman was killed by police, the authorities said.
“Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko has just reported that the attacker in Kyiv who opened fire on civilians has been eliminated. All the circumstances are being established,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
“At present, five people have been confirmed killed,” he said. “Ten people are currently hospitalized with injuries and trauma. All are receiving the necessary assistance.”
Zelenskyy said the gunman had taken people hostage in the assault in the Holosiivskyi district of the Ukrainian capital. Four of the hostages were successfully rescued, he said.
“We expect a swift investigation. Investigators of the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine are working,” Zelenskyy added.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said municipal authorities had launched a “special operation” to apprehend the assailant, who he said entered a supermarket after the shooting.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko identified the attacker as a 58-year-old native of Moscow who used automatic weapons. Before barricading himself in the Velmart supermarket, the gunman opened fire on civilians and set fire to the apartment where he was registered, according to media reports.