Murder in hotel in Kyiv: random conflict or gang showdown?
On 23 November, a fight and shooting took place in the Sky Loft hotel in central Kyiv: a serviceman of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Dmytro Rashevskyi, shot dead a landscaping inspector from Odesa region and wounded two people.
Oleksandr Kanazirskyi, 27-years-old, deputy head of public amenities in Yuzhne, Odesa region, was killed on the spot, and Georgiy Arabadzhy, 26-years-old, an inspector of public amenities in Yuzhne, Odesa region, and Volodymyr Vasiura, 45-years-old, a security guard at the Sky Loft hotel, were wounded.
Rashevskyi, 30-years-old, threw away his gun and fled, but later surrendered to the police and was detained and charged with premeditated murder. Another participant in the conflict, 29-year-old Bohdan Vikazin, was also detained.
Here is the message from the GPO.
A group of masked and armed soldiers posted a video in support of Rashevskyi, claiming that he had received state awards and had taken part in hostilities.
Another video also shows a group of unarmed soldiers lined up outside the police and court buildings.
Censor.NET's sources in the police reported the following picture of the crime as established at the moment:
Two groups of young men were spending time on the ground floor of the hotel.
For unknown reasons, Rashevskyi and Vikazin had a conflict with an as yet unknown person, who in the investigation materials is referred to as "person 2" in a black coat. After that, another man, Melnychuk T.V., started fighting with Rashevskyi.
The hotel's chief security guard, Vasiura, and his colleagues tried to stop the fight, even using tear gas.
At 00.22, when the guards were accompanying Rashevskyi to the hotel lobby, Tadei Melnychuk suddenly struck Rashevskyi with a strong uppercut to the jaw, causing him to fall and lose consciousness.
Melnychuk and "person 2" remained at the scene of the fight, where the conflict was escalating.
At 00.26, Vikazin approached Melnychuk and hit him, and they fell to the floor. When Vikazin got up, he also attacked "person 3" in a black jacket.
At that time, according to law enforcement officers, Rashevskyi regained consciousness, pulled out a gun, and they tried to stop him, but then the first shot was fired and the bullet hit hotel security guard Vasiura in the leg.
At 00.28, Rashevskyi and Vikazin, who had sat down again at the scene of the fight, were approached by four men - Oleksandr Kanazirskyi, Georgiy Arabadzhy, 28-year-old Ivan Arabadzhy, 31-year-old Denys Dymov - who immediately attacked Rashevskyi and Vikazin, knocked them onto the sofas and began to beat them severely.
At 00.29, Rashevsky fired 6 more shots. Kanazirskyi is killed on the spot, Georgiy Arabadzhy flees the scene of the fight with a wound.
Rashevskyi is now in hospital under guard, he suffered a concussion.
Judging by the video, Rashevskyi's innocence of murder is supported by the fact that his life was indeed in danger at the time of the attack, and he used the weapon in self-defence and was in a state of affect.
However, there are many questions about the causes of the conflict and the circumstances of the events in the video that have not yet been answered:
1. Why did neither Rashevskyi nor his friend Vikazin report the conflict and then the attack on the military personnel to the law enforcement authorities, or call the police to the scene?
Why didn't the hotel security do it?
2. Dmytro Rashevskyi is a serviceman of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine who spent time in a rather strange place and environment for a serviceman. Rashevskyi, according to the operational data of law enforcement agencies available to Censor.NET, has been brought to criminal responsibility on several occasions before. Also, according to this unofficial information, he is related to Oleksandr Petrovskyi, widely known in some circles as Narik. We would like to verify this information and receive official confirmation or denial.
Therefore, it is very important to obtain factual information - is Rashevskyi a real combatant, in which specific operations and in which positions did he take part in battles, how did he prove himself? Perhaps the man fought honestly and the past has no influence. But I would not want the DIU to serve as a cover for other activities that are not related to the defence of the country. I hope that someone from the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and the court will be able to shed some light on this.
3. Why haven't all the participants on the other side been detained? Why has the police not yet released all the data of all the participants in the conflict?
Obviously, the lobby of the hotel was occupied by the leadership of a mafia group operating in the Yuzhnyi port of Odesa region, together with their bodyguards, who operate under the "roof" of the Yuzhne City Council's amenities department. The bandits must be detained because they provoked a deadly fight.
4. Was it an accidental conflict or a gang fight? Law enforcement officers have already taken statements from many of the participants and should have announced this.
5. All the participants in the conflict are very healthy, athletic, disciplined people who are ready to fight and are not afraid of blows and bullets. Such a unit in its entirety could decorate our best assault battalions. I hope our law enforcement and courts will help make this happen, and we will follow the process.
6. Why hasn't the TCR leadership mobilised healthy 'bulls' from the Yuzhnyi Port Amenities Department in Odesa Oblast? How many bribes did the bandits pay to the district and regional heads of the TCR? Will an internal investigation be conducted by the Ministry of Defence and the Army Command?
7. Do law enforcement agencies control the city authorities of Yuzhnyi Port of Odesa region, or is the entire city council controlled by gangs during the war? Is the mafia now imposing tribute on businesses, smuggling drugs, and committing other crimes against the economic security of the state during the war? Will the SSU respond?
I hope that this case will be made as public as possible, that we will get answers to all the questions raised, and that all participants in the fight will be named by name without exception, and that everyone will be able to show their courage at the front, not in bars.
Yurii Butusov, Censor. NET
