Former serviceman: law enforcement has identified the suspect who killed four police officers in Cherkasy Oblast

The shooting in Ukraine’s Cherkasy region, during which four police officers were killed, was carried out by a former serviceman.

This was stated by Oleh Hudymа, head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Cherkasy region, during a briefing.

According to him, an investigation into the tragedy is under way. The perpetrator, a former serviceman, was killed. His identity has been established: he was a 59-year-old local resident who had been suspected of murder. Because a pre-trial investigation is ongoing, other details of the case are not being disclosed at this time.

Hudymа said that during investigative actions the suspect saw the police and fled the house. He was equipped with military gear—a body armor vest and an assault rifle—and hid in a wooded area. When police were searching there in order to detain him, the man opened fire, killing four officers and wounding a fifth. Three of those killed and the one wounded were members of a special unit, and another officer who was shot was a community police officer.

“They took part in repelling the armed aggression; they were combat veterans. We express our condolences to the families and share this pain with you,” Hudymа added.

Earlier, it was reported that in Khmelnytskyi an attempted mobilization ended in a bloody conflict: a man stabbed a military enlistment officer and a police officer. And in Kryvyi Rih, a man struck a police officer with a screwdriver during a document check, after which the officer shot him in the neck.