The body of a victim is carried, at the site of a shooting incident, in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 18, 2026. VALENTYN OGIRENKO / REUTERS
In Kyiv on Saturday, April 18, at least six people were killed after a gunman opened fire and took hostages at a supermarket in the Ukrainian capital before being killed during an arrest attempt, officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that at least 14 people were hospitalized with wounds and trauma after the shooting and hostage-taking, which took place in a residential district in the city's south.
"He was holding hostages and, unfortunately, killed one of them. He killed four people right on the street. Another woman died in the hospital from severe injuries," Zelensky said on social media, adding that four hostages from the supermarket "have been rescued." "The attacker has been eliminated," he said, offering condolences to the victims' families.
An Agence France-Presse reporter saw the supermarket – which had blood stains on its shop window – cordoned off by a heavy security presence, with officers wearing bulletproof vests and crime investigators arriving at the scene. The assailant's motive was not immediately known. Zelensky urged "a swift investigation" into the shooting and said that all the circumstances of the incident were being established.
