The Kyiv Court of Appeal, today, March 13, in the case of the murder of 5-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov, examined a video of an investigative experiment involving one of the accused, Dmytro Kryvoshey. In the recording, he, as a witness, talked about which of the accused was shooting and in which direction on the day the child was injured, May 31, 2019.
This is reported by a correspondent of Suspilny from the courtroom. The hearing began with a delay of 40 minutes due to the lateness of the accused Ivan Prykhodko. Although his lawyer and most of the participants did not object to the beginning of the hearing without Prykhodko, the panel of judges decided to wait for him.
The parties continued to examine the evidence, including that which the court of first instance had deemed inadmissible. The video of the investigative experiment with Dmytro Kryvoshey, a participant in those events, did not open immediately due to technical problems. The experiment was conducted a month after the child's death.
In the recording of the experiment, Kryvoshey tells investigators in detail about the day Kyrylo Tlyavov was shot in the head. At that time, Kryvoshey still has the status of a witness, and he speaks with the participation of witnesses.
The Kyiv Court of Appeal examined a video of an investigative experiment involving one of the defendants — Dmytro Kryvoshey — in the murder case of 5-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov, Kyiv, March 13, 2026. Social News/Nikita Halka
According to Kryvoshey, when he arrived at the house, there were shell casings and cartridges scattered on the porch, from which the other defendants had fired.
“I saw a plastic box, there were cartridges there, about 10 rounds. There were casings lying on the floor. There were about 10-12 casings,” Krivoshey says in a 2019 video.
The Kyiv Court of Appeal examined a video of an investigative experiment involving one of the defendants — Dmytro Kryvoshey — in the murder case of 5-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov, Kyiv, March 13, 2026. Social News/Nikita Halka
Later, the former police officer and defendant Prykhodko took out a gun from behind the door and the men started shooting.
“He loaded the gun, and I asked him to shoot. Then I loaded the gun again myself, took a cartridge and fired at the pole from below. The impact on the pole was clearly audible,” Krivoshey continued, recreating the location and direction of the shot with a model of the gun.
According to his testimony, three of the four accused fired that day: former police officer Ivan Prykhodko, Dmytro Kryvoshey himself, and the son of another police officer, a minor at the time, Stanislav Petrovets. The latter fired 3 shots at improvised targets: a tire buried in the ground, a vodka bottle, and a can planted on a bush branch.
The Kyiv Court of Appeal examined a video of an investigative experiment involving one of the defendants — Dmytro Kryvoshey — in the murder case of 5-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov, Kyiv, March 13, 2026. Social News/Nikita Halka
“In total, 7 or 8 shots were fired. After that, no one fired in my presence,” Krivoshey answered the investigator's question.
The man said he did not know whose weapon it was or where the cartridges came from. But he pointed out that sometimes Prykhodko used wire to remove the cartridge case from the gun because it got stuck. The first instance court in Pereyaslav did not take the video interrogation into account and declared it inadmissible.
An expert examination of the case, examining the bullet that was removed from the child's head, established that it could have been fired from a Soviet-model TOZ rifle (Tula Arms Plant – Russian ed.). Despite several weeks of searches, law enforcement officers did not find the weapon itself. Kryvoshey's lawyer Serhiy Kyshenko, together with other defense attorneys, emphasized that the evidence is inadmissible, since the investigative experiment was conducted when Kryvoshey was in the status of a witness, and then it was used against him when he became a suspect. “This is a gross violation of Article 240 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” the defense attorney said. According to the lawyer of another defendant, Viktor Chevguz, the representative of the Tlyavov family had no right to participate in the investigative experiment. He also drew attention to the lack of a written description of the event and the result of the investigative experiment.
The Kyiv Court of Appeal examined a video of an investigative experiment involving one of the defendants — Dmytro Kryvoshey — in the murder case of 5-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov, Kyiv, March 13, 2026. Social News/Nikita Halka
“The video is just an appendix to the protocol. This is a gross violation of the Criminal Procedure Code. This evidence was rightly recognized as inappropriate and inadmissible ,” Chevguz emphasized.
The representative of the Tlyavov family, Elvira Kyrylenko, believes that the evidence is admissible, because at that time there was little information in the case, and the Kryvosheys became suspects in the case later. She explained the lack of written protocols with case law and noted that this “is not a gross violation,” since the court can establish the entire course of the experiment by watching the video.
“Since the witness called the ambulance at 3:41 p.m., this is contained in the case materials, Kyrylo Tlyavov was hit between 3:35 p.m. and 3:37 p.m. The testimony of another suspect, Stanislav, is consistent with Kryvoshey's testimony; he saw Ivan with a gun, heard a shot, got on a moped and drove away,” Lazarenko said.
The next meeting will be held on June 5th.
What is known about the death of the boy Kirill Tlyavov
On May 31, 2019, four people, including two police officers, were relaxing and drinking alcohol in the courtyard of a private property in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv region. While relaxing, the men agreed to shoot metal cans with firearms. It later turned out that the bullet hit a boy who was in a neighboring yard. On June 3, five-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov died in hospital.
Two police officers were detained on suspicion of murder: Ivan Prykhodko and Volodymyr Petrovets. After the child's death, the case was reclassified as premeditated murder. The police officers were arrested for 2 months without bail. They did not admit their guilt and refused to cooperate with investigators.
In July, the investigation announced suspicions against two more citizens, one of whom is a minor. On November 5, the director of the State Bureau of Investigation, Roman Truba, announced that investigators had clarified the circumstances under which 5-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov was killed. The perpetrators were declared suspects.
According to him, police inspector Ivan Prykhodko has been charged with manslaughter.
On December 23, 2020, an indictment regarding the murder of 5-year-old Kyrylo Tlyavov was sent to court. The case is being investigated under the articles “hooliganism committed with the use of firearms or cold weapons” and “murder due to negligence.”
In December 2022, Prykhodko was released from custody and placed under 24-hour house arrest following a decision by the European Court of Human Rights. He was also awarded compensation of over 9,000 euros.
In February 2023, the defendants were extended their preventive measures. At that time, the court refused to change Prykhodka's 24-hour house arrest to night arrest.
In March 2023, at Prykhodko's request, the court changed his place of residence and stay for the duration of 24-hour house arrest.