Unrest near Kyiv: what is known three days after clashes at an Azov Corps temporary base
On November 2, a crowd tried to storm a private house near Kyiv used as a temporary base by Ukraine's National Guard. Several people have been detained and investigations are under way.
On November 2, several dozen people, later about 100, gathered outside a private house in the village of Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv. Social media claims said armed people were holding around 40 people in the basement and torturing them, including soldiers who had left their units without permission and mobilized men. Authorities rejected this: they said the house was a temporary base of a unit of the Azov Corps, the 1st Corps of Ukraine's National Guard, where mobilized men and soldiers detained after leaving their units were held.
What happened at the house
The crowd tried to break down the gate and get into the building. The most active was a woman in a paramedic's uniform, Valentyna Moloda, who said four people inside needed help and one had died; this claim could not be confirmed. Police said they came after a call from employees of a "private ambulance service."
In the evening National Guard Commander Oleksandr Pyvnenko arrived, followed by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian president's office. Four injured soldiers were brought out and handed to medics. Clashes continued until midnight, and at one point the crowd blocked a bus meant to take soldiers to hospital.
Investigation
Moloda was detained on November 3, and a Kyiv court ordered her held in pretrial detention the next day. The court also ordered detention for Tetiana Kireieva, whom investigators call the "instigator of the unlawful actions," and for Viktor Yena, who allegedly posed as a paramedic. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) alleges Kireieva hired Moloda on October 30 to get a National Guard soldier out of the base. Moloda is accused of obstructing the Armed Forces, spreading information about soldiers' whereabouts and organizing large-scale rioting. She denies the accusations.
Police and the SBU have identified 130 people who may have been involved, 27 of whom actively took part in unlawful acts. Military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova is examining whether the rights of mobilized men and soldiers were violated. Budanov promised to punish those responsible and said the security agencies would draw lessons.
