Six killed in Kyiv gun attack

KYIV:

Six people were killed in Kyiv on Saturday after a gunman opened fire and took hostages at a supermarket in the Ukrainian capital before being killed during an arrest attempt, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that at least 14 people were hospitalised with wounds and trauma after the shooting and hostage-taking, which took place in a residential district in the city's south.

"He was holding hostages and, unfortunately, killed one of them. He killed four people right on the street. Another woman died in the hospital from severe injuries," Zelensky said on social media, adding that four hostages from the supermarket "have been rescued".

Footage posted by the UNIAN news agency, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed a man carrying a gun and shooting at a person from close range near a block of flats.

The suspect then entered a supermarket where gunshots were heard, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Four hostages from the supermarket "have been rescued", Zelensky said on social media.

"The attacker in Kyiv who opened fire on civilians has been eliminated," Zelensky said, offering condolences to the families of the victims.

An AFP reporter saw the supermarket - which had blood stains on its shop window - cordoned off by a heavy security presence, with officers wearing bulletproof vests and crime investigators arriving at the scene.

The assailant's motive was not immediately known.