To establish the fact of official negligence by patrol police officers during the terrorist attack in the Holosiivsky district of the capital on April 18, it is necessary to clearly understand whether the patrol officers had full information regarding the circumstances of the incident in order to respond adequately, State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Director Oleksiy Sukhachov notes.
"The territorial administration of the SBI in Kyiv is investigating this case, and expert examinations and other procedural actions are currently being carried out," Sukhachov said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Answering a question about whether Bureau investigators already have evidence of official negligence by the patrol officers, the SBI director emphasized: "We must clearly understand whether the patrol officers possessed full information about the incident when they received the call. What kind of information it was and whether they were ready to respond adequately to the circumstances."
"Currently, we are still at the stage of collecting and summarizing evidence and conducting expert examinations. After that, we will draw certain procedural conclusions," Sukhachov explained.
The SBI director assured that the Bureau will not drag out the investigation. "We understand that this is a very sensitive topic for the Kyiv community, the police officers, and society," he added.
Speaking about whether, in his opinion, the public anger directed at the patrol officers corresponded to objective reality, the SBI director noted that society perceives a National Police employee – in uniform, with a standard-issue weapon, a car with special signals – as a person who has undergone training, possesses certain skills, and is capable of protecting.
"Society delegates its protection to police officers, and in this case, protection was not provided. This negatively affected the image of the police, although as a whole, police officers do a lot of positive work for the state," Sukhachov added.
According to him, the negativity in the case of the "Kyiv shooter" boils down essentially to the fact that the patrol officers who arrived at the call were not ready for such a turn of events.
As reported, a shooting occurred in the Holosiivsky district of Kyiv on April 18, as a result of which 7 people died and another 14 were injured. The police conducted a special operation to detain the attacker, during which he was liquidated.
According to law enforcement officers, the shooting was carried out by a 58-year-old native of Moscow, a citizen of Ukraine, who previously lived in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, and later in the Holosiivsky district of the capital. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he used a registered weapon.
Two patrol officers who were the first to arrive at the call left an injured child and fled the scene.
A criminal proceeding has been initiated into the improper performance of official duties by police officers during the terrorist attack. The legal qualification of the criminal offense is Part 3 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (official negligence that caused grave consequences).
The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv chose a preventive measure for the suspected patrol police officers – detention with the right to post bail in the amount of UAH 266,240 for each.
At a meeting with media representatives, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko informed that National Guard and Border Guard Service servicemen who participated in combat operations would become instructors for patrol police officers at training grounds. He emphasized: "Now patrol police officers will live at training grounds in turns."
In May, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the first group of 200 patrol police officers began training at a range.
Chief of the Patrol Police Department Yevheniy Zhukov submitted a resignation report after the terrorist attack on April 18. Subsequently, he was appointed advisor to the head of the National Police.
