Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military-civilian administration, announced on Monday, February 12, that the law enforcement officers detained the suspect in the murder of the deputy mayor of Nikopol, Vitaly Zhuravlev. The perpetrator was hiding in a rented apartment.
According to Lysak, the 33-year-old suspect had been preparing for the murder for several months. On Thursday, February 8, he opened fire with an automatic weapon on the car in which Zhuravlev was, and then threw a grenade into the passenger compartment.
The car caught fire. After that, the man hid the weapon in a forest lane.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the attacker intended to commit similar crimes against other Nikopol officials. This data is currently being verified. He was charged with intentional homicide under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention. 
On February 8, the Prosecutor General's Office reported that in Nikopol, unknown persons shot a car in which the deputy mayor was traveling. He died on the spot.
Law enforcement sources said that one of the main versions of Zhuravlev's murder is a conflict with a local group that has been ongoing since 2017.
