At least five killed in Kyiv as gunman opens fire and takes hostages

At least five people have been killed and others injured after a person opened fire in Kyiv, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The incident happened in the capital's southern Holosiivskyi district, Kyiv's police force said. The man reportedly began shooting at people on the street and then took others hostage in a nearby supermarket.

Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the attacker shot at police from within the supermarket before being killed by officers.

The exact number of victims remains unclear, but Kyiv's mayor said at least 15 people had been injured. Ten of these, including a child, have been taken to hospital.

Ukraine's prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, said four of the dead had been killed in the street and one in the supermarket.

He identified the shooter as a 58-year-old man from the Russian capital, Moscow, and said he had used an automatic weapon to carry out the fatal shooting.

The four hostages he took were later freed, according to Zelensky.

Kravchenko also said a fire had broken out in the man's apartment, following unconfirmed reports that he detonated an explosive device.