Suspects in the shooting of police officers in Vinnytsia were going to flee abroad, they were detained

Men who attacked patrolmen in Vinnytsia region, as a result of which one policeman died and another was wounded, were detained in Odesa region.

This was reported by the head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ivan Vyhivskyi.

"The attackers of the policemen were detained in the Odesa region - they face life imprisonment," says a message on his Facebook page.

The suspects were hiding in the Odesa region. They were detained by employees of the KORD special unit. The attackers are two military men, father and son, 52 and 26 years old, natives of the Vinnytsia region.

The policeman, who died protecting his partner, who was attacked first, managed to shoot and injure the attackers.

The circumstances of the incident and the motives of the crime are being established, the police informs.

The spokeswoman of the National Police, Olena Berezhna, said on the air of the telethon that the attackers were hiding in an abandoned building and intended to go abroad.

The reason for the attack was apparently that the men were carrying live grenades.

Upon the fact of the attack, the investigators started criminal proceedings under the article - murder or attempted murder of a law enforcement officer during the performance of official duties.

The article provides for life imprisonment.

How events developed

On Saturday night, two unknown men in military-like clothing shot patrolmen who stopped their car in the Vinnytsia region. The police began searching for the attackers, and the prosecutor's office reported that they may be active military personnel.

The incident happened around 2:00 in the morning in the Gaysyn district of the Vinnytsia region, when police officers stopped an unknown dark-colored car for inspection.

There were two men in the car. They opened fire on the policemen. A 20-year-old policeman died from his injuries, his partner was injured.

Later, in the Vinnytsia region, a car suspected of attacking a police patrol was discovered, the head of the Vinnytsia specialized prosecutor's office in the field of defense, Oleksiy Rykhlyuk, told about it on the air of the telethon.

It also became known that there was a civilian man in the police car during the attack, whom they detained earlier and took for examination. He was in the car and was not injured. The spokeswoman of the National Police of the region, Zarina Majevska, told Suspilno about this.

A video from surveillance cameras at a gas station appeared on social networks, showing that the attackers were dressed in green-olive clothing, which is often worn by the Ukrainian military. The car they were driving was also painted olive.

A source of BBC Ukraine in the police says that the records published on social networks correspond to reality. They depict the suspects.

They were dressed in uniforms similar to those worn by the military. But whether they are really servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - such information is currently still being checked, the interlocutor said.

"They were in green uniforms and the car was green in color. But whether they were really military is yet to be determined."

Their car was stopped in the middle of the night for inspection, a police source said.

"It was at night, a routine car check. But they opened fire," he said.

The Minister of Internal Affairs reacted to the incident.

"It doesn't matter who and in what clothes. In what condition and for what reason. There is no justification for this crime and there cannot be," said Ihor Klymenko.

"And so: this tragic case demonstrates that there is no rear for the police."

A video from the body camera of one of the police officers has also been published online. In the footage, people, like at the gas station, after the stop very calmly talk to the policemen who wanted to inspect the trunk of the car.

However, at some point the driver and his passenger attacked the policemen and started shooting at them. Then they fled from the scene.

Also, the orientation of the police on possible attackers has already appeared in the mass media. According to them, the suspects are father and son - natives of Vinnytsia Valery and Vitaly Vasilake.

The Prosecutor General's Office reported that two servicemen are being investigated for involvement in the crime.

On the video from the patrolman's camera, one of the attackers can be heard saying that he and his father serve in the 28th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is a military unit located in the Odesa region.

However, the military command denies that the two attackers are active servicemen of this brigade.

"It should be noted that the persons suspected of committing the crime have not been related to the 28th OMBr for more than a year. Knights of the Winter Campaign. We are making every effort to facilitate the investigation of this case and ensure justice," said the statement of the "South" operational command.

Subsequently, the command of the Ground Forces stated that the suspects are indeed servicemen of one of the military units of this type of troops. The command promises to contribute to the investigation of the tragedy.

"Those guilty of this crime must face the harshest punishment," the press service said in a statement.

As the police reported, the policeman who died during the night attack was 20-year-old Maksym Zaretskyi.

He is an ordinary police inspector of the response sector of the patrol police of police department No. 1 (Bershad) of the Haysyn district administration.

"Maxim was 20 years old. "From 2021, he studied at the National Academy of Internal Affairs and served faithfully in the response sector of the patrol police for one and a half years," the police said.