Around 100 participants in events in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka identified, - SSU

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has identified around 100 participants in the events in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka on November 2. Authorities are considering detaining them and serving them with notices of suspicion.

SSU Deputy Head Ivan Rudnytskyi said this, a Censor.NET correspondent reports.

What has the SSU established?

According to him, the operation was planned to abduct a National Guard service member. The organizers sought to generate public attention around the events to draw in other people, including residents of Kyiv and the capital’s outskirts.

"Around 100 people who actively participated have been identified… We are considering serving these people with notices of suspicion and detaining them," Rudnytskyi said.

He added that one of the women involved may have tried to use deception to take away a man who had gone absent without leave from his military unit. In addition, she is hiding her husband, who is also AWOL.

Rudnytskyi said the woman had repeatedly come to the authorities’ attention and had discredited the authorities; her objective is still being examined. The actions of the suspected organizers have been documented, and the investigation is ongoing.

The SSU is investigating obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the unauthorized dissemination of information about the locations of the Defense Forces. There are also plans to merge the rioting case being investigated by the National Police into these proceedings.

The situation in Kyiv is currently fully under control and calm, he added.

Background

Earlier, reports circulated online claiming that on 2 November in the village of Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv, armed men were allegedly holding around 40 hostages in the basement of one of the houses, some of whom were in a serious condition, and were preventing medics from reaching them.
According to the Kyiv Regional Police, they were contacted by staff from a private ambulance service who were prevented from reaching one person.
The police stated that reports claiming people were being unlawfully detained in the village of Petropavlivska Borshchahivka and that one of them had died were untrue.
The Commander of the National Guard, Oleksandr Pivnenko, confirmed that National Guard servicemen were in the house after leaving their unit without authorisation, and that four of them required medical attention and were taken to hospital.
Pivnenko also explained that the private house was being used as a temporary accommodation centre for National Guard personnel. Mobilised personnel arrived there, underwent registration and checks, after which they were sent to a training centre.
When asked about a man with a broken spine, National Guard press officer Ruslan Muzychuk replied that this was not true: all four had walked to the ambulance under their own steam.
The Office of the Military Ombudsman was present at the scene in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka alongside the command of the National Guard of Ukraine. An investigation has been ordered.
The National Guard will launch an internal investigation into this incident.
Tensions remained high well into the night. People threw stones at the building’s windows, set off smoke bombs and firecrackers, damaged the building’s brick wall, smashed the bus and attempted to overturn it.
The Head of the President’s Office, Kyrylo Budanov, arrived at the scene in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka in the Kyiv region.
Footage circulated on social media showing a teenage boy being led out of the building, wrapped in a thermal blanket. Budanov spoke to him personally – the boy said he was 14 years old and had come to the scene with his friends. The Head of the Presidential Office rang the boy’s sister to ask her to come and collect him.
However, at around 10.30 pm, a group of people arrived at the scene and began pushing those present aside. A mass brawl broke out, and the sound of gunshots was heard, according to media reports. There were casualties amongst those present, and Budanov urged them to contact the police.