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On December 1st, an attempt on the life of an Ukrainian politician from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc left his 3-year-old son dead.

Kyiv Regional City Council deputy and entrepreneur Viacheslav Soboliev was leaving the restaurant “Mario,” which he owns, when a gunshot pierced his window and struck his son, who was riding on the back seat.

There were various reports about the two suspects of the attack, but police said that the suspects were arrested on the morning of December 2nd. There are two of them: born in 1999 and 2000. One of them is from Western Ukraine. They are reportedly former members of a Nazi volunteer battalion, formed by members of the Right Sector, that fought on the side of the Kiev regime in Eastern Ukraine. It furthermore became known that one of them was a professional sniper.

“The detainees have been served with charge papers of committing a crime under Paragraphs 2, 11, 12 of Part 2 of Article 115 (premeditated murder of a young child, commissioned by prior conspiracy by a group of persons) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,” the press service of the National Police in the city of Kyiv said.

The deputy chief of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army (UDA) Andriy Gergert confirmed that the two suspects were veterans from Eastern Ukraine as part of the 8th Separate Battalion Aratta.

“Both Semenov and Lavreg served at my unit,” he said.

Andriy Lavrega, call sign “Tykhiy” [Quiet] had served with the battalion until June 1 of this year.

“A brave, responsible guy, one of the best snipers in this war. Talented, smart beyond his years. He received the state award from President Poroshenko… An incredible guy from whom, who would be a great role model if not for this situation. An absolutely disciplined guy. If this happened to him – him starting shooting in the center of the city – then things have really gone bad. My heart is bleeding right now,” Gergert said.

He added that another detainee, Semenov, a native of Odesa region, was a friend of Lavrega, but he does not remember him.

Thus, a “brave, responsible” member of a Nazi-infested battalion shot and killed a child. Lavrega also had an award from former President Petro Poroshenko – the Order for Courage of the 3rd degree.

Strana.UA reported that Lavrega served in the volunteer battalions since 2017, and that he was even wounded while on duty. But he was injured by friendly fire, during practical firing at a firing range in the Zaporizhzhya region.

Andreyu Lavrege is 20 years old – he was born on June 19th, 1999 in the village of Khizhintsy, Cherkasy region. Studied in Cherkasy at school. In 2014, he participated in events on the Maidan in the ranks of the Right Sector.

The entire incident went as follows:

On December 1st, around 5:30 p.m. local time on a corner of Leo Tolstoy and Tarasovskaya, a Range Rover SUV was shot, driving it was famous Donetsk businessman Vyacheslav Sobolev with his family: his wife Inna and their 3-year-old son Sasha were in the back seat. Later, the police specified that another woman was sitting in the car – a relative of the Sobolevs.

According to Sobolev, everything happened very quickly when they just left the restaurant and were waiting at the traffic light.

The driver heard a shot, then his wife Inna started screaming. When the man realized what had happened, he ran out with the child in his arms and began to scream for help. The ambulance took the baby with a gunshot wound to the head to the hospital, but the baby died along the way.

According to Soboliev, immediately after the attack, flowers appeared on the scene of the incident. Who brought them and left them on the road is unknown.

The gunshot went through the front window, which makes it apparent that the shooter was attempting to kill Soboliev, but failed. Shot through the side window from the driver. The bullet also pierced the front seat headrest. That is, they aimed at Sobolev, but apparently hit the child by accident.

The shot was fired from the Fire Inn hostel, room number 310, located on Tarasovskaya street. It was established that the indicated room was rented in the name of Oleg Vladimirovich Strelnikov, born on 03.10.1998, whose passport is considered lost as of 2017.

In the indicated number they found a cardboard box with a cutout for shooting, on which there were gunpowder traces. A minute after the shot, the suspected shooter left the hostel. His face could be distinguished from security camera footage.

In recent years, there was an information campaign to discredit Soboliev, who was even accused of collaborating with the Donetsk People’s Republic. He said that the business he owned in Donetsk was sold back in 2007 and he had no dealings there.

The mother of the 3-year-old victim posted a eulogy on Facebook.

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