Ukraine police chief resigns after officers allegedly fled shooting that killed six people
Eight people remain in hospital after the attack in Ukraine's capital by a Russian-born gunman, mayor says
The head of Ukraine's patrol police has resigned after officers were initially filmed fleeing the scene of a mass shooting in Kyiv.
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Eight people remain in hospital after being wounded by a Russian-born gunman who killed six people on Saturday.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Sunday that one of those hospitalised was a child whose parents were killed in the shooting.
The man opened fire on passers-by with an automatic rifle before barricading himself in a supermarket with the hostages, where he was shot dead by police.
Police stormed the supermarket after unsuccessfully trying to negotiate with the suspect for 40 minutes.
Klitschko said the wounded child was in moderate condition, while one of the adults was critical.
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"They are all receiving all necessary medical care," the mayor said on Telegram.
Yevhen Zhukov, the head of Ukraine's Patrol Police, a division of the national police service whose duty is to patrol the streets, resigned on Sunday after social media circulated a video showing patrol officers running away after hearing gunfire, leaving civilians without protection.
"The police officers acted unprofessionally and disgracefully. As police officers, they should have been helping and rescuing our citizens.
"But they failed to assess the situation properly and left civilians in danger," online media outlet RBC Ukraine quoted Yevhen Zhukov, the head of Ukraine's Patrol Police, as saying.
"As a combat officer, I have decided to submit my resignation from the position I currently hold," Zhukov added.
Earlier on Sunday, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the officers' behaviour was "a disgrace to the entire system". An investigation has been launched, and decisions will be made regarding their superiors.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that the shooting, which happened in the capital's leafy Holosiivskyi district, injured 14 people.
Investigators from the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine are now examining all the circumstances of the attack in Kyiv against ordinary civilians.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 18, 2026
The attacker was eliminated. He took hostages and, tragically, killed one of them. He shot dead four more people… pic.twitter.com/qIpvjzJ04V
The supermarket has been cordoned off and remains closed.
Bullet holes are visible in the windows of the supermarket, and bloodstains can be seen nearby.
Flowers were left near a residential building, a couple of hundred metres from the supermarket, where the shooter shot his first victims.
Shootings of this nature are extremely rare in Ukraine, and the country's security service said the incident was being investigated as a terrorist act.
Police have not yet identified a motive for the crime.