The private Kharkiv retirement home that burned down on Jan. 21, killing 15 and seriously injuring five of its elderly residents, was operating illegally, according to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova.
The building was not registered as a retirement home and had no legal documentation. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that “this house basically does not exist on city plans.”
Four suspects have been arrested, including the building owner, the married couple that was operating it as an unlawful retirement home and an employee of the pair’s nonprofit organization. Authorities are considering arson, careless handling of fire or electrical appliances, or a short circuit as the possible causes of the blaze.
The fire started on the two-story house’s second floor at around 3 p.m. on Jan. 21. By the time it was brought under control at 4:53 p.m., 15 residents were dead.
“It was just hell. The entire street was in smoke, it caught fire very quickly… everyone was in a panic,” an eyewitness told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The owner of the property, Slavik Akopyan, allegedly rented it to a man whose wife directed the facility. The married couple are the founders of a non-governmental organization that held recreational amateur and cultural activities.
The tenants may have used their registered NGO as a cover to manage the illegal care facility for the elderly, Venediktova said.
Kharkiv City Council Deputy Igor Cherniak wrote on his Facebook page that the unauthorized facility was legalized through a corrupt scheme in Kharkiv’s Leninsky District Court.
Akopyan, who was one of the arrested suspects, has two houses close to each other on the same piece of land. The second house is officially registered as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.
The owner has four similar facilities, Kharkiv City Council Secretary Igor Terekhov said at a briefing.
Hours after the tragedy, Ukraine’s Ombudswoman Ludmyla Denisova said there are many retirement homes that operate illegally, making them impossible for the government to control.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called for an emergency government meeting to discuss further steps.
President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Jan. 22 to be a day of mourning in Kharkiv, calling the fire a “terrible tragedy.” He ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to set up a special commission to investigate the tragic fire and work out a strategy to avoid similar accidents in the future.
Zelensky tasked Avakov with opening a criminal case and taking personal control over the investigation — an order the president cannot legally give.
The State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General’s office are also investigating the possible negligence of the State Emergency Service staff.
This is the deadliest building fire in Ukraine since the Trade Unions House fire in Odesa killed 42 people in 2014.
