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Grenade launcher used in attack on TV channel’s office in Kiev - UPDATED

13 July 2019 16:22 (UTC +04:00)

Two unidentified men opened fire from a grenade launcher on a building that houses the Kyiv office of 112 Ukraine TV channel overnight July 13, APA reports citing Unian.

The incident occurred on 21G Dehtiarivska Street in Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district. Neighbors heard an explosion at around 03:40 local time, the National Police's press service reported. Investigating teams, K9 units, explosive ordnance disposal teams, and patrol crews immediately arrived at the scene, where they saw the damaged office building's exterior and discovered a spent tube used to fire a rocket-propelled grenade.

Now, the scene is cordoned off. The police said there were no injuries but classified the attack as a terrorist act. The enforcers included information about the offence in the state register of pre-trial investigations on facts of the crimes under Part 1 of Article 258 (an act of terrorism) of Ukraine's Criminal Code. An interception plan is introduced in Kyiv. Noteworthy, Ukrainian blogger Anton Hodza believes this was a planned provocation aimed at disrupting the peaceful protest to be held on Sunday.

As was earlier reported, activists announced a peaceful rally outside the building of 112 Ukraine TV channel against the planned screening of Revealing Ukraine by Oliver Stone. The film features Viktor Medvedchuk (Vladimir Putin's closest political ally in Ukraine) who comments on events in the country.

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Ukrainian police are investigating an attack on the office of ‘112 Ukraine’ TV in the capital, Kiev. The shooter fired at the building with a grenade launcher in the middle of the night, apparently aiming for the logo. Nobody was hurt in the attack, which police called an act of terrorism. According to some reports, there were two perpetrators who arrived in a car, fired the explosive device, and fled the scene.

The channel is linked with the ‘Opposition Platform – For Life’ political bloc, which is seen as “pro-Russian” by critics. On the day before the attack, management announced it would broadcast Oliver Stone’s documentary ‘Revealing Ukraine’, which features an exclusive interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine’s prosecutor general threatened to launch a criminal investigation against 112 Ukraine for showing the film.