A man entered the building of the Cabinet of Ministers and threatened to detonate a hand grenade on Aug. 4. He was arrested an hour later by the National Police.
Kyiv Police Head Ihor Klymenko said that the man is now facing up to 15 years in prison for taking hostages.
“The situation is unusual, as it was a serviceman who participated in the war, was wounded twice, including with a head injury,” Klymenko said during a press briefing.
The man was identified as Volodymyr Prokhnych, a combat veteran formerly with the Aidar Battalion, a paramilitary group formed in 2014 to fight the Russian-led militants in Donbas. Prokhnych reportedly joined the force in the early days of Russia’s war and served as a minesweeper.
Today, Aidar is part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to the Interior Ministry, at around 10 a.m. Prokhnych entered the main government building with a hand grenade and threatening to blow up the premises.
A video depicting the man with a grenade in his hand standing at the entrance of the building has surfaced online. The police have confirmed that the video is from the scene.
In the video, bystanders can be heard attempting to calm the man down while he’s repeatedly asking them to back away and saying he’ll “set it off” while motioning to the grenade.
“This is a takeover of the building! Remove the people, remove the people, I said, I’m so fucking done with all of you,” Prokhnych allegedly yells.
According to the National Police, the man’s friend, local official Vasyl Oleksiuk acted as a mediator and convinced the man to surrender to the police.
“He committed this crime because he had difficulties in life,” said Klymenko.
Aidar veteran Andriana Susak said Prokhnych had suffered from cancer and allegedly sought help from authorities.
“He was sick of bureaucracy,” Susak told the Censor.net media outlet.
