Patrolwoman Anna Dudina, who found herself at the epicenter of the shooting in Kyiv, worked in the department's office at the time of the incident and was not on duty in response units on a permanent basis.
This was announced by the head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ivan Vyhivskyi, during a briefing.
According to him, due to a shortage of personnel, employees who do not usually work “in the field” are sometimes involved in patrols.
“She is a patrol policewoman, but she worked not on the line, but in the apparatus. She was brought in as reinforcement, she was not on duty on a permanent basis,” he explained.
Dudina herself stated in court during the selection of a preventive measure that she does not recognize official negligence and considers the request against her to be unfair.
Anna Dudina is suspected of official negligence during the shooting in Kyiv in the Pechersk District Court. April 21, 2026. Social News/Ivan Antipenko
Vyhivskyi noted that currently the patrol police are understaffed by about 25%, and in Kyiv this figure is even higher. Because of this, the police are forced to quickly redistribute resources to respond to calls.
He separately drew attention to the problem of law enforcement officers' salaries. According to him, the police are currently not competitive with other law enforcement agencies, and the level of salaries affects the outflow of personnel.
“Of course, it's not just about money, but people are looking for something better. When you get 27 thousand, and a security guard in a store gets 30, then these are slightly different things,” says Vyhovsky.
Vid added that the department has already drawn conclusions and is reviewing approaches to training police officers.
What is known about the shooting in Kyiv?
In the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv on April 18, a man opened fire on passersby on the street, and then broke into a supermarket, where he held those present hostage.
The attacker was eliminated during the assault on the store. The shooting left six people dead and 14 injured, including a child. The SBU qualifies the shooting of civilians as a terrorist attack.
Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko ordered an internal investigation into the actions of the police officers, who have already been suspended from duty for the period of the investigation.
This happened after a video was posted on social media showing two police officers running away when they heard gunshots. The head of the Patrol Police Department of Ukraine, Yevhen Zhukov, resigned due to the actions of police officers during the terrorist attack in Kyiv.
On April 20, it became known that the death toll had risen to seven — one of the wounded died in the hospital.
Two officers of the Kyiv patrol police have been charged with negligence of duty with grave consequences for their actions during a terrorist attack in the Holosiivskyi district.
The Pechersk District Court has chosen a preventive measure for Mykhailo Drobnytskyi and Anna Dudina, two Kyiv patrol police officers who fled during the shooting. They were sentenced to 60 days in custody with the right to bail in the amount of 266,240 hryvnias for each.