Man dies after detonating explosive device at Kyiv court

Suspect thought to have been attending a hearing on the deaths of four Ukrainian national guardsmen in 2015

Security forces at the district court investigate the explosion. Reuters

A man died on Wednesday after barricading himself inside a court in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and detonating an explosive device, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

The man “presumably … died from the explosive device”, Mr Klymenko told reporters at the scene.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app, he wrote: “According to preliminary information, he blew himself up.”

During attempts to bring the man under control at Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi District Court, two members of a special rapid response security forces unit were injured.

Mr Klymenko identified the suspect as Ihor Humenyuk and said he had been attending a hearing as a suspect in connection with the deaths of four Ukrainian national guardsmen in 2015.

After the hearing, he said Mr Humenyuk had first locked himself inside a bathroom and tossed an explosive device at two guards.

Stopped from leaving the building by officers firing into the air, he barricaded himself in another room, Mr Klymenko said.

He refused to negotiate with officials and threw another device at the two injured officers.

Mr Klymenko said the man was killed in the altercation. An investigation was under way to determine how he was able to have been in possession of explosives inside the court.

Police rushed to the scene following reports of the explosion after 5pm local time and ambulances were seen going in and out of the building.

Video footage showed at least one person being carried out on a stretcher.

In his statements, the minister made no mention of any link with Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.