The soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine was recently arrested who opened fire, killing five people in the early hours of today, four of whom were colleagues, in the central part of the country, and he had escaped, taking his service weapon with him.
The incident took place around 03:40 Greek time when the alleged perpetrator received his weapon before taking on a guard at a factory of the Giuzmas group, in the city of Nipro. The factory produces spacecraft-carrying missiles, conventional missiles for the armed forces, vehicles, industrial tools, etc.
"A member of the Ukrainian National Guard opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle against the factory guards, then escaped with his weapon. "As a result, five people were killed and five others were injured," the interior ministry said in a statement.
According to the police, the victims are four soldiers of the National Guard and one citizen, one woman.
Several hours after the tragedy, the Interior Minister announced the arrest of a 21-year-old man from the Odessa region and published a photo of him lying in the snow wearing a suit and with a shaved skull.
"Artem Ryabchuk was arrested by police officers in the Dnipropetrovsk region," Minister Denis Monastirsky said in a Facebook post. He was arrested in the city of Pidgorodne around 07:30 Greenwich Mean Time (10:30 Greek time), police said, about 15 km. from the point of fire.
A special operation was launched in Dnipro, a city in the central part of the country and in the neighboring area to locate him. The commander of the National Guard, Mykola Balan, went on the spot.
"The motives of the crime are not yet known," the interior ministry said.
Following the soldier's arrest, the interior minister announced the establishment of a commission to investigate the circumstances of the tragedy as well as the "mental state" of the young man.
Violent incidents, some with the use of weapons, in military units of the former USSR states are frequent, and are usually attributed to capsules during the "initiation" of new recruits, especially in Russia. However, the situation has improved in recent years.
In addition to homicides, several suicides are also attributed to the initiation of recruits.
Source: RES-EAP