A gunman armed with an automatic weapon killed at least seven people on the streets of Kyiv before barricading himself inside a supermarket with hostages Saturday, ending a 40-minute standoff when Ukrainian police stormed the building and shot him dead.
The 58-year-old attacker, identified by officials as a Moscow-born man who had lived in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, opened fire outside an apartment block in the capital’s busy Holosiivskyi district before seizing customers and staff inside a nearby Velmart supermarket. Fourteen people were injured in the rampage, including a 12-year-old boy whose father and aunt were among those killed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that four victims died on the street, while a woman around 30 years old succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. The gunman killed a sixth person—one of the hostages—inside the supermarket before special tactical units ended the siege. A seventh victim, a man in critical condition, died in the hospital on Monday.
“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,” Zelensky said in a video posted online.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, wearing body armor at the scene, said police negotiators attempted to reason with the shooter for roughly 40 minutes while he held people captive. The attacker, described as “acting chaotically,” made no demands during the standoff. A female negotiator in body armor used a loudspeaker from behind an armored vehicle, pleading with the gunman to release the hostages.
When those efforts failed and the shooter killed a hostage, tactical units received orders to move in. Four hostages were freed after police fatally shot the gunman while he resisted arrest.
Authorities said the attacker used a legally registered carbine in the assault. In December 2025, he had approached licensing authorities to have the weapon test-fired as his permit neared expiration, submitting the required medical certificate and application for renewal. Investigators are now working to determine which medical institution issued that certificate and examining the circumstances surrounding how the permit was granted.
Before beginning his shooting spree, the man set fire to his apartment. He had a prior criminal record, though officials did not elaborate on the nature of those offenses. Neighbors in his apartment block described him as solitary and unremarkable.
“I knew him by sight. He seemed like an educated, refined man. You’d never guess he was some kind of criminal,” said 75-year-old Hanna Kulyk, a resident of the same building. “He didn’t socialize much with people—just a greeting and he’d be on his way. He lived alone.”
The violence unfolded in daylight on a crowded street, leaving bodies covered with emergency blankets as bystanders fled. An Associated Press reporter at the scene witnessed the aftermath before victims were removed. Televised footage showed police taking cover inside the shopping mall that housed the supermarket while shots rang out.
Among the injured, a boy born in 2015 is being treated for gunshot wounds after losing both his father and aunt in the attack. His mother was also wounded. As of Monday, seven people remained hospitalized, including four adults in intensive care and one child.
Ukraine’s Security Service and Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko are treating the incident as an act of terrorism. Investigators continue working to establish the shooter’s motive, though authorities noted his background raised questions. Born in Russia and having lived extensively in the Donetsk region—largely under Russian occupation since 2014—the attacker’s history is under intense scrutiny.
The shooting stunned residents of a city that, while frequently targeted by Russian aerial attacks during the ongoing war, rarely experiences this type of violence. Mass shootings remain uncommon in Ukraine, making Saturday’s events particularly jarring for Kyiv’s wartime population.
The incident also exposed apparent failures in the police response. Video footage emerged showing two officers running away as shots rang out, prompting Yevhen Zhukov, head of Ukraine’s national Patrol Police Department, to announce his resignation. He called the officers’ conduct “unprofessional” and “unworthy of police officers.” The images contrasted sharply with the tactical units that ultimately ended the siege.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed the death toll and location, while President Zelensky pledged a thorough investigation into both the attack and the circumstances that allowed a man with a criminal record to obtain and maintain a weapon permit. The incident has raised uncomfortable questions about licensing procedures and oversight in a nation already stretched thin by more than four years of full-scale war.
As investigators sift through evidence from the burned apartment and interview witnesses, Kyiv residents are left grappling with a new form of violence in their embattled capital—one that came not from Russian missiles, but from a gunman on their streets.