Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy has announced that six law enforcement officers were killed in the village of Kniazhychi in Kyiv region`s Brovary district, according to 112 Ukraine TV channel despite earlier statement by Ukraine police on five officers killed.
”A terrible tragedy occured in the night from Saturday to Sunday: six law enforcement officers were killed in the village Kniazhychi in Kyiv`s Brovary district,” Parubiy said while opening a meeting of the Rada`s Conciliation Board Monday.
He noted that the police officers risk their lives every day and the victims` families need support.
”On behalf of all MPs and our conciliation board, I express condolences to the families of law enforcement officers. I hope, a transparent investigation will establish the cause of this great tragedy,” Parubiy said.
At the same time, the police once again said that the number of officers killed in a tragedy amounts to five people.
”If someone talks about the sixth victim, let them call the [victim`s] name and show us where [that victim] is,” Head of the Communications Department of the Interior Ministry Artem Shevchenko told UNIAN.
As UNIAN reported earlier, five members from different state law enforcement agencies were shot dead in a fiendly fire incident between police and the State Guard Service, a police force that protects property, in the village of Kniazhychi in the early hours of December 4.
Undercover police officers from the criminal investigation department and a SWAT team were conducting surveillance nearby the house that was about to be robbed, according to a police tip, assisting the raid aimed to detain the burglars. At some moment, an alarm went off in a house nearby, prompting the arrival of a State Guard Service response team. The latter detained the undercover cops, having mistaken them for the burglars.
In a row pf mutual misunderstanding and lack of coordination, the special-ops officers believed the criminals had captured their undercover colleagues and opened fire. Two State Guard Service officers, two undercover police officers, and a SWAT team member were killed in a shootout involving automatic guns.
Upon hearing gunshots, the suspects who were to be caught red-handed on that day gave up their plan and fled the scene.
