Shooting at Kyiv's Pechersk recruitment office: three police officers and three soldiers wounded

What happened

On the evening of 19 October a shooting took place inside the Pechersk district territorial recruitment and social support centre (TCC) in Kyiv. The Kyiv police said that, according to preliminary information, the shots were fired by a man who had been brought to the centre for violating mobilisation laws.

According to the police, three police officers and three servicemen were wounded. All were hospitalised and are receiving the necessary medical care. The shooter was detained at the scene.

Details from the recruitment centre

The Kyiv city TCC, as quoted by the UNN news agency, said police officers brought the man to the Pechersk district centre at around 19:00 for violating the mobilisation law. During a check he pulled out a weapon and opened fire on the police officers and servicemen.

What kind of weapon was used, how he still had it after being brought in, and the condition of the wounded have not yet been officially reported. Investigative teams from the district and city police worked at the scene. “All circumstances of the incident are being established,” the police said.

What is still unknown

As of the morning of 20 October, official police statements contained neither the legal qualification of the incident nor any details about the detained man. Nor was it reported whether he had been formally notified of suspicion, or whether any of the wounded were in serious condition. Such details usually emerge after the first investigative steps, and UA.briefly will follow official updates from the police and prosecutors.

Not the first case

Attacks on TCC servicemen during mobilisation measures have happened before. RBC-Ukraine recalls that on 2 August in Odesa a man fired a pistol several times at TCC servicemen, wounding four. A similar incident occurred in Dnipro on 4 May.

Also on 19 October, police in Kharkiv region announced the arrest of a 50-year-old man suspected of killing a TCC serviceman. The attack happened on 25 June in Kharkiv’s Saltivskyi district during a check of military registration documents: one serviceman died in hospital of stab wounds and another suffered cuts. The detainee has been notified of suspicion of premeditated murder and violence against an official; he faces 10 to 15 years or life in prison. In Lviv region police also detained a man suspected of a knife attack on a TCC serviceman in the town of Sheptytskyi.

Context

Mobilisation remains one of the most sensitive issues in Ukrainian society: the army needs reinforcements, while the actions of recruitment centres regularly cause disputes and complaints. At the same time, violence against soldiers and police officers carrying out their duties is a criminal offence.

The state is gradually moving some procedures online or to administrative service centres to reduce in-person visits to recruitment offices. Also on 19 October the Defence Ministry, announcing an expanded list of people entitled to deferral, noted that for some grounds the application is filed at a TsNAP centre, which forwards the documents to the TCC commission; the result then appears in the electronic military registration document in Reserv+. There is no need to visit the TCC in person.

Good to know

• TCC actions can be challenged through a complaint to the centre’s management, the police, the parliamentary human rights commissioner or the courts;
• some matters, including deferrals, can be handled online in the Reserv+ app or at administrative service centres (TsNAP) without visiting a TCC in person;
• any violence should be reported to the police immediately on 102.