On the morning of Dec. 4, a police operation to catch a suspected theft ring ended in the shooting deaths of five police officers who fired on each other by mistake in Knyazhychi village, some 15 kilometers west of Kyiv.

The tragedy took place around 4 a.m. as Kyiv criminal police operatives were preparing to catch a group of people suspected in a number of robberies in Kyiv and in Kyiv Oblast. The police learned of a plan to rob a house in Knyazhychi. Officers set up a trap nearby to catch the suspects.