The State Bureau of Investigations plans to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the events that occurred in Cherkasy, where four police officers were killed as a result of gunfire. The Bureau guarantees objectivity in establishing all the details of the incident.

Source: DBR in a comment to "Ukrainian Truth", source UP in law enforcement agencies

Bureau Quote: "The investigative-operational group of the DBR urgently went to the scene. Our specialists will carry out a comprehensive set of necessary measures to establish all the circumstances, assess the actions of all participants, and ensure an impartial investigation."

Circumstances: The DBR provided the following information:

On January 27 at 09:47, a report was received on the "102" hotline from a forester about a "Niva" vehicle that had stopped at the entrance to the village of Nehvoroshch in the Cherkasy region. A police officer with a gunshot wound to the leg was found in the car.

It turned out that the law enforcement officer was injured during a shootout in Nehvoroshch. According to preliminary information, employees of the criminal investigations department, along with investigators from the Cherkasy police, were attempting to detain a suspect in an attempted murder. During the arrest, the criminal opened fire on the police officers, resulting in the deaths of four law enforcement officers. The injured police officer was taken to the hospital.

Another group of police officers eliminated the shooter during the shootout. Other details of the incident are currently being established, the Bureau noted.

According to a source from UP, the eliminated shooter was a former serviceman.

Background:

  • On January 27, the head of the National Police, Ivan Vygivskyi, reported that during a special operation to detain a suspect in a murder case in the Cherkasy region, the suspect opened fire on law enforcement officers. As a result, four police officers were killed: Serhiy Safronov, Oleksandr Florinsky, Denys Polovynka, and Volodymyr Boyko. The shooter was eliminated by special forces.
  • Later, it became clear that the man was suspected of attempted murder, not murder. According to "Ukrinform", it was about attempts on a city council deputy.
  • A source from the agency claimed that there is a city council deputy and head of a public organization in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, who had allegedly already been the target of "warning attempts" twice. According to him, the deputy had contacted the police, and law enforcement had identified those involved, after which they issued an order the day before, and the next day an operational-investigative group went to detain the suspect.
  • At a briefing on January 27, the head of the Main Department of the National Police in the Cherkasy region, Police Colonel Oleg Hudyma, noted that the shooter was a local resident, a former serviceman, who is 59 years old.
  • Cherkasy resident Yaroslav Nyshchik stated on Facebook that the shooter was his comrade, former military Serhiy Rusinov. According to Nyshchik, Rusinov had a conflict with city council deputy Vitaliy Storozhuk.
  • On January 28, Storozhuk stated about "the spread of false information and speculation" surrounding Rusinov's death.