Probable killers of well-known journalist in Ukraine arrested – still unclear who ordered the murder

Almost three and a half years after the murder of the famous journalist Pavel Sheremet in Kyiv, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the head of the National Police said that the suspects in this case were detained.

Hromadske reports there are five suspects: war veterans in the Donbass spouses Inna and Vladislav Grishchenko, military nurse Yana Dugar, child surgeon Yulia Kuzmenko and musician and military man Andrei Antonenko.

The police say the motive for the murder was to ‘destabilize the situation in the country.’

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The murder of Sheremet

Pavel Sheremet is a Belarusian opposition journalist who worked in Russia for many years, and two years before his death, he moved to Ukraine. July 20, 2016 he was assassinated in Kyiv by a car bomb.

Sheremet died on the spot.

In May 2017, Hromadske’s Slіdstvo.Info, along with journalists from the OCCRP, presented an investigation film about the murder of Pavel Sheremet.

Journalists claimed that they found many interesting facts that the investigation probably did not pay attention to. Including – video surveillance cameras on which the probable killers are captured.

Proof and testimonies

Judging by the statements of the leaders of the Ukrainian police, it was the shots of CCTV cameras that became the main clue for the investigation.

In addition, at a special briefing, an audio recording was presented with a voice that allegedly belongs to suspect Yulia Kuzmenko. On the record, she discusses the need to destabilize the situation in the country and the need to find a “sacred sacrifice.”

Some of those arrested are well-known people in Ukraine who are respected among war veterans and volunteers.

The investigation does not yet have an answer to the question why these people needed to “destabilize the country” in this way.

There is still no account of who may have ordered the murder. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said:

“The probable killers were detained today. We have received a lot of answers – you yourself saw this. But there is one more question: who [ordered the murder]. I’m sure that this question will definitely be answered next time.”

In response to a question about a possible “Russian trace” of the murder, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov noted this possibility is being taken into account.