At least six killed in Kyiv as gunman opens fire and takes hostages

BBC:

At least six people have been killed and others injured after a person opened fire in Kyiv on Saturday, the Ukrainian capital’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.

The incident happened in the southern Holosiivskyi district. The man reportedly began shooting at people on the street and then took others hostage in a nearby supermarket.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the attacker was killed in the supermarket following a shoot-out with police. His motive is currently unclear.

The exact number of victims also remains unclear, but Klitschko said at least 15 people had been injured. Ten of these, including a child, had been taken to hospital.

Klitschko said most of the dead had been killed in the street. One woman, thought to be about 30 years old, later died in hospital.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, identified the shooter as a 58-year-old man from the Russian capital, Moscow, and said he had used an automatic weapon to carry out the fatal shooting.

Four hostages were later freed, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Kravchenko also said a fire had broken out in the man’s apartment, following unconfirmed reports that he detonated an explosive device. The shooter caused the fire, according to Klitschko.