Police have detained more people suspected in the murder of Berdiansk activist and ATO combatant in Donbas region, Vitaliy Oleshko. Five people arrested earlier including the crime organizer are in police custody.

The Zaporizhia regional police press center on Thursday cited Ukraine's First Deputy National Police Chief Vyacheslav Abroskin, who reported the results of the criminal investigation involving Oleshko's murder.

Regional police has said it is putting all five suspects, including the recently detained 38-year old Donetsk region resident, in police custody.

"Police have detained a few more people for committing grave and severe crimes. They are reasonable grounds to suspect them of committing this murder," Zaporizhia regional police's press service quoted Abroskyn as saying.

Oleshko (nom de guerre Sarmat) was shot dead with hunting rifle on July 31, 2018 in the center of Berdiansk. Law enforcement agencies have detained the five individuals suspected in Oleshko's murder, four of them in the town of Vasylyevka in Zaporozhia region and one more in Berdiansk.

All four detained in Vasylyevka were served notices of suspicion for committing premeditated murder by a group of individuals. According to the Facebook page of the spokesman of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Andriy Lysenko, the persons are suspected under Part 12 of Article 115 of Ukraine's Criminal Code.

Vekhovna Rada of Ukraine (People's Front Party) deputy Anton Gerashchenko said Oleshko's murderer used to be a sniper from the Tornado special purpose militia detachment and took part in the Anti-terrorism Operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine. The other four detainees are his accomplices, sportsmen from Dnipro and the Dnipropetrovsk region.

A suspect initially classified as a witness in the case detained in Berdiansk is now classified as a suspect. According to unofficial sources, he loaned his car to the four murder suspects without knowing why they needed it.

Berdiansk city court ordered the arrest of the four suspects. Berdiansk City Court Judge Serhiy Moroka said the main version of the murder is that it involved personal relationships and committed due to business conflicts.

Police on September 15 announced the detention of individual who planned and organized Oleshko's murder.