You're reading: Four civilians, three policemen injured in shootout in Mukacheve, Ukrainian interior minister reports

Criminal gangs using grenades launchers have wounded four civilians and three policemen in Mukacheve, Zakarpattia region, two of the wounded are in critical condition. Attackers have been surrounded and offered to surrender, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said.

“A special operation to surround, disarm and arrest the gang which on Saturday attacked civilians in Mukacheve, continues in Zakarpattia region. Using grenade launchers, gunmen damaged two police cars, injuring four civilians and three police officers. The injured are being administered medical aid. One policeman and one civilian are in serious condition,” the minister wrote on his Facebook page.According to him, the gang has been surrounded and they were offered to surrender. If they refuse, force will be used against them, Avakov said.

Meawhile, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has instructed law enforcement agencies to disarm and detain criminals who staged the shootout in Mukacheve, Zakarpattia region.”I ordered law enforcers to disarm and arrest the perpetrators of the shooting, which resulted in the death of civilians in Mukacheve,” the president wrote on Twitter.”The government should stand up to all manifestations of banditry, wherever they occurred,” the president’s press secretary Sviatoslav Tseholko quoted Poroshenko as saying.

According to the local Internet publication Mukachevo.net, a showdown involving shooting occurred between the entourage of Member of Parliament Mykhailo Lan (People’s Will parliamentary group) and people posing as the Right Sector. The shootout took place on the territory of the Antares complex and the former club ‘Red Dragon’ on Lermontov Street. Sound of numerous shots could be heard.According to preliminary information, armed people who introduced themselves as the Right Sector occupied the territory of the complex. They faced resistance from the entourage of Member of Parliament Lan.The police and Security Service officers arrived at the scene.In addition, around 14.00, a follow-up shooting took place near the Chervona Hora on the Kyiv-Chop motorway.