The Prosecutor General has published the results of the investigation into the high-profile terrorist attack in Kyiv and the attacker’s motives.
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko published the results of the investigation into the terrorist attack that occurred in Kyiv on April 18. The investigation managed to establish the full chronology of events and identify the attacker. He turned out to be a native of Moscow, born in 1968, a retired major, who served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 1992 to 2005 in positions related to the maintenance of automotive equipment.
It was established that the attacker owned a registered firearm and a traumatic pistol. He received his last permit for weapons in December 2025 on the basis of a journalist’s certificate issued by one of the public organizations. The Security Service of Ukraine is currently verifying the legality of obtaining this document and the circumstances of the man’s medical examinations.
According to the Prosecutor General, an analysis of the attacker’s mobile phone showed that the man was systematically preparing for a mass shooting. Video recordings were found on the phone in which he practiced quickly bringing his weapon into combat readiness and practicing aimed shooting at home.
During such training, the man recorded aggressive monologues. He called people “pigs” who “will be wet”, used hate speech against Ukrainians, shouted Nazi salutes and called for violence on ideological grounds.
The attacker had a particular dislike for his neighbor, whom he contemptuously called “the director of the sixth”. This man became the first victim of the attack. According to the investigation, the “trigger” of the tragedy on April 18 was another dispute over the intercom. The attacker repaired it himself, but after that some of the residents could not get into the house.
During the conflict near the entrance, the man first opened fire with a traumatic weapon and wounded several people. After he ran out of ammunition, he threw away the gun, went up to his apartment, took a firearm, set fire to the apartment and went outside again.
The shooter killed a neighbor and a taxi driver near the house. He also wounded the son of the first victim, his wife, her sister and a janitor who was covering the child. The wife’s sister and the janitor later died from their fatal injuries.
The man recorded his actions on audio. After the first murders, he moved towards the supermarket, continued shooting and killed two more people. At the same time, the attacker selectively warned individual passers-by to run away, “because there will be shooting now.”
In a supermarket, a man walked between the rows, threatened people with a gun, and shot a store employee. Five more people in the building were injured.
After that, the attacker barricaded himself with the hostages. He turned to the currency exchange employee and demanded that she immediately leave the cash register and call a representative for negotiations. The man threatened to shoot through the door and kill the woman if she refused. At the same time, he was not interested in money, because he shouted: “Get out of the cash register, I will not take your dollars.”
The attacker explained his actions as “self-defense” from an alleged group attack by four people near the entrance. He claimed that he was “run over by young people with women,” recalled his military experience and rank of major, and stated that he “couldn’t take it anymore.”
According to the Prosecutor General, the recordings also recorded the man’s cynical comments after the murder of his neighbor. In particular, the attacker said: “He’s already a corpse, his brains are lying around.”
Currently, law enforcement officers are awaiting the results of post-mortem forensic psychological and psychiatric examinations, which should establish the degree of sanity of the shooter. The investigation into the circumstances of issuing weapons permits to persons with a criminal past and questionable documents is under special control of the leadership of law enforcement agencies.
