Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include further developments.
A five-year-old boy has died in a Kyiv hospital on June 3 after allegedly being shot by drunken police officers.
The boy, who was identified as Kyrylo Tliavov, suffered fatal wounds to the head on May 31 in the city of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky, a town roughly 85 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. At the time of the incident, the officers were off duty and shooting at tin cans for target practice.
Serhiy Knyazev, chief of the National Police, confirmed in a May 31 post on Facebook that the police officers were drunk. He also wrote that the guns used by the officers were not their service weapons. The National Police stayed in contact with Tliavov’s parents after he was shot, Knyazev said.
The two suspects were taken into custody by the police and the State Investigations Bureau, Knyazev wrote.
The incident has provoked outrage across the country as a clear sign of failure to reform Ukrainian law enforcement.
Swift state reaction
Initially, local police claimed that the Tliavov had fallen and hit his head on the asphalt, likely an attempt at a cover-up. However, in the hospital, it quickly became clear that he had suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
After this, state agencies quickly sprung to action, detaining the suspects and launching an investigation.
The State Investigations Bureau initially charged the two police officers with “careless grievous bodily harm” and “conspiracy.” It also submitted a motion to the the Holosiyivsky District Court of Kyiv to hold the suspects in custody without the possibility of bail.
After Tliavov’s death, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko wrote on Facebook that the charges would be requalified as “intentional homicide.”
On June 4, Kyiv’s Holosiyivsky Court ruled to place police officer Ivan Prykhodko, who is suspected of shooting Tliavov, and a second officer, Volodymyr Petrovets, under arrest without the possibility of bail for two months, the Hromadske television channel reported. Another individual who was with Prykhodko and Petrovets at the time of the shooting was also questioned as a witness.
The police officers now face charges of “intentional homicide of a young child, committed in conspiracy with a group of individuals” and “hooliganism” involving firearms. If found guilty, the suspects could face up to life in prison, the Ukrainska Pravda news site reported.
Additionally, police are investigating the possibility that Petrovets’ 14-year-old son could have been the shooter.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also responded swiftly to the murder.
Earlier on June 3, Iuliia Mendel, the president’s newly appointed press secretary, wrote on Facebook that Tliavov had been transported to a specialized neurosurgery hospital in Kyiv. She described his diagnosis as a “penetrating wound to the head, a heavy open craniocerebral trauma, (and) a brain contusion.”
According to Mendel, Zelenskiy pledged to involve foreign medical experts in Tliavov’s case if needed.
After the news of Tliavov’s death broke, Zelenskiy promised to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Of course, nothing on earth can comfort (Tliavov’s) loved ones. But I — as a president and as a father — want to assure you that I will do everything so that the guilty parties are brought to justice…” he wrote on Facebook. “This tragedy should become a lesson. Those who are charged with providing for the safety of citizens must constantly remember their responsibility.”
Official shakeup
In his Facebook post, Lutsenko also wrote that he had sent a letter to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov demanding that the chief of the local police department where the two policemen worked be removed from office.
Shortly thereafter, the Interior Ministry announced that the heads of the local police had been suspended from fulfilling their duties while a decision was made on their future in law enforcement.
The next day on June 4, Dmytro Tsenov, chief of the Kyiv Oblast police, submitted his resignation in connection with Tliavov’s killing.
Despite these actions by the Interior Ministry, Avakov has not commented on shooting of Tliavov, which has angered many.
Failed reform?
In summer 2015, Ukraine launched a reform to replace the country’s corrupt, Soviet-style militia with a modern, honest police force.
However, the reform has seen mixed results. Many members of the old militia returned to serve in the new police, and the new police officers have found themselves underfunded and overworked, according to reporting by Hromadske.
After the killing of Tliavov, frustrations with law enforcement boiled to the surface.
On June 3, over 100 people — including members of the far-right C14 organization — gathered in front of the Interior Ministry building to demand that the officers responsible be punished, Ukrainska Pravda reported. The activists burnt flares and called for Interior Minister Avakov to be sacked.
The next day in the Verkhovna Rada, the Samopomich and Batkivshchyna parties demanded that Avakov, National Police Chief Knyazev, and State Investigations Bureau head Roman Truba be called before parliament.
“We must make this an issue of political responsibility,” Samopomich lawmaker Olena Sotnyk said, according to Ukrainska Pravda. Sotnyk was also involved in calling people to protest in front of the Interior Minister.
Artur Herasymov, leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc fraction, which was recently renamed European Solidarity, called for the political punishment of those who were attempting to cover up the crime. It was unclear whom this referred to.
Later on June 4, Knyazev and Avakov met with Tliavov’s mother and grandmother. They agreed to closely monitor the investigation into Tliavov’s killing, organize psychological help for the boy’s older brother, and pay for Tliavov’s funeral.
Nonetheless, that evening, more protesters gathered outside the Interior Ministry calling for Avakov’s resignation, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Past police crime
Ukraine also has a history of protests erupting after crimes and violence committed by law enforcement.
The most famous case was a protest in Mykolaiv Oblast in summer 2013. An infuriated mob stormed a police station in the town of Vradiyivka after two police officers raped a local woman and authorities allegedly tried to cover it up. The local revolt launched a chain of protests against police brutality and impunity across Ukraine.
Many thought these protests helped to launch the EuroMaidan Revolution, which began several months later and overthrew corrupt President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
Additionally, despite having fairly strict gun control regulations, Ukraine lacks a primary law governing gun ownership, making it difficult to distinguish legal and illegal weapons. Since the launch of Russia’s war in Donbas, the country has faced increased proliferation of weapons from the warzone to civilian areas.
