A 57-year-old gunman with a history of pro-Russian social media posts and Nazi sympathies killed seven people in Kyiv on April 18, 2026, in what authorities are investigating as a premeditated act of terrorism that ended when Ukrainian special forces fatally shot him during a hostage standoff at a supermarket.
The rampage began when Dmytro Vasyliovych Vasylchenkov set his apartment ablaze in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, then opened fire on people outside an apartment block before seizing customers and employees inside a nearby supermarket. The Ukrainian citizen, born in Moscow, had served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 1992 to 2005 and resided in the Holosiivskyi neighborhood.
Four people were killed on the street, one hostage died inside the supermarket when tactical units stormed the building, a woman in her 30s succumbed to injuries at the hospital, and a critically wounded man — later identified as 72-year-old Oleksandr Hryhorovych, who was credited with shielding a wounded boy with his body before being shot — died on April 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed in an online video. Another victim, Igor Savchenko, was identified as a guitarist for the Ukrainian rock band Druhe Sontse. Fourteen others sustained injuries, including a 12-year-old boy who lost his father and aunt in the attack and was being treated for gunshot wounds. A 4-month-old baby suffered carbon monoxide poisoning from the apartment fire, and the infant’s mother was also wounded.
Seven people remained hospitalized as of April 22, including four adults in intensive care and one child. A petition launched on April 23 to honor Hryhorovych gathered the required 6,000 signatures by April 27, qualifying it for consideration by the Kyiv City Council. The petition calls for a memorial plaque or sculpture at the site of the shooting, a posthumous city distinction, and an official public commemoration.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, wearing body armor at the scene, said police negotiators spent about 40 minutes trying to reach Vasylchenkov, who held hostages inside the store but made no demands and was “acting chaotically.” A female negotiator in body armor used a loudspeaker from behind an armored vehicle, urging him to release captives. Special forces fatally shot the gunman when he resisted arrest after killing a hostage, freeing four people.
Vasylchenkov used a legally registered carbine during the shooting. Authorities later discovered he possessed two registered rifles and a traumatic pistol. In December 2025, Vasylchenkov had contacted licensing authorities for a weapon test as his permit approached expiration. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said the permit was secured using an allegedly fraudulent press ID from an NGO. Investigators are examining how the permit was granted to someone with a criminal record, though officials did not specify the nature of his prior offenses.
President Zelensky promised a comprehensive investigation into both the attack itself and how licensing procedures allowed someone with a criminal background to obtain and retain a weapon permit. The episode has provoked difficult questions about regulatory oversight in a country already strained by more than four years of full-scale war.
Ukraine’s Security Service and the Prosecutor General’s office are treating the rampage as terrorism. Mobile phone videos recovered from Vasylchenkov showed him conducting target practice while delivering threatening monologues, referring to people as “pigs” he would “slaughter,” giving Nazi salutes, and advocating ideologically motivated violence. Born in Russia and having lived extensively in the Donetsk region—portions of which have been under Russian occupation since 2014, his background is under intense examination. His social media history included posts denying Ukraine’s right to exist, expressing wishes that Russia had seized Bakhmut sooner, and praising Adolf Hitler’s ethnic cleansing tactics.
The daylight attack on a crowded street left bodies covered with emergency blankets as witnesses scattered. An Associated Press reporter at the scene observed the aftermath before the victims were transported. Televised footage captured police sheltering inside the shopping mall housing the supermarket as gunfire echoed.
Video surfaced showing two officers fleeing as shots were fired, leading Yevhen Zhukov, head of the Patrol Police Department, to announce his resignation. He characterized the officers’ behavior as “unprofessional” and “unworthy of police officers.” On April 20, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko announced both officers faced formal charges of official negligence, which carries a potential five-year prison sentence. The Pecherskyi District Court ordered them into custody, though both posted bail of approximately $6,000 each. The footage contrasted sharply with the tactical units that ultimately neutralized the threat. Interior Minister Klymenko subsequently dismissed the entire leadership chain of Kyiv’s Patrol Police and ordered that deputies responsible for service training in every unit must have combat experience.
Residents of Vasylchenkov’s building described him as withdrawn and ordinary. “I knew him by sight. He seemed like an educated, refined man. You’d never guess he was some kind of criminal,” said Hanna Kulyk, 75, who lived in the same building. “He didn’t socialize much with people—just a greeting, and he’d be on his way. He lived alone.”
The assault shocked inhabitants of a city that, despite enduring frequent Russian aerial bombardment throughout the ongoing war, seldom witnesses this form of violence.
As investigators comb through evidence from the charred apartment and question witnesses, Kyiv residents confront an unfamiliar type of violence in their war-torn capital—one that originated not from Russian missiles, but from a gunman on their streets.