Ukraine: Police shoot dead gunman who killed six in Kyiv

The mass shooting, in a busy central district of the Ukrainian capital, left 14 others wounded, officials said.

A gunman opened fire on people in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Saturday, killing six people and wounding more than a dozen others, authorities said.

Speaking in his nightly video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the mass shooting happened in the city's leafy Holosiivskyi district, adding that 14 people had been injured. 

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said authorities had launched a "special operation" to apprehend the assailant, who he said had entered a supermarket. 

The shooting "resulted in injuries and several fatalities," Klitschko said.

What do we know about the incident?

Televised footage of the scene showed police taking cover in the shopping mall that housed the supermarket while shots were fired.

Bystanders were escorted away from the scene.

Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko later declared that the gunman was killed during an attempt to arrest him. 

"The gunman was killed during his arrest in Kyiv," Klymenko said on social media, adding that the suspect "had taken people hostage and fired at police officers during the arrest."

Zelenskyy urges swift investigation

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initially said at least five people were killed, adding: "My condolences to the families and the loved ones."

Kyiv Mayor Klitschko later said that a sixth victim, a young woman, had died from her injuries in the hospital.

Ukraine's SBU ‌security ⁠service has designated the incident as a "terrorist act."

Zelenskyy said the gunman was born in Russia and that "all the circumstances are being established" to piece together a motive for the attack.

Local media said the attacker is believed to hold Ukrainian citizenship and to have lived in the Donbas region for a long time.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery