Shooting incident in Kniazhychi, outside Kyiv

Five members from different state law enforcement agencies were shot dead in a shooting incident between police and the State Guard Service, a police force that protects property, in the village of Kniazhychi in Kyiv region's Brovary district in the early hours of December 4.

Undercover police officers from the criminal investigation department and a SWAT team were watching the scene to detain burglars, but a burglar alarm went off in a house nearby, prompting the arrival of a State Guard Service group. The latter detained the police officers, having mistaken them for the burglars. 

The special police officers then mistakenly decided the criminals had captured their undercover colleagues and opened fire. Two State Guard Service members, two undercover police officers and a SWAT team member were killed. 

Having heard the gunfire, the suspects in robberies who were to be caught red-handed on that day gave up their plan and left the scene, heading for Kyiv where they were later detained.