Photo: suspilne.media
A court in Kyiv has ordered Vasyl Honcharuk, the organizer of a weapons exhibition in the Kyiv region that was later struck by Russian ballistic missiles, to remain in pre-trial detention without bail, Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported. The detention order is for 60 days.
The exhibition was hit by a Russian missile strike on July 24.
Honcharuk's lawyers asked the court to reject prosecutors' request for detention without bail, arguing that keeping their client in custody was unjustified. However, they did not submit an alternative request for a different preventive measure.
Speaking to reporters, the defense said attorney Andrii Domanskyi had filed a motion asking the court to release Honcharuk into his personal custody, citing Honcharuk's public activities. The defense declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation, saying it would present its arguments through official legal procedures.
According to videos from the courtroom circulated online, Honcharuk admitted guilt. He told the court that he had also been injured in the July 24 missile strike.
Honcharuk said he had provided investigators with information about the event, access to his mobile phones and other evidence. He asked the court to place him under house arrest instead of ordering pre-trial detention, saying he was prepared to cooperate with the investigation.
Prosecutors argued that some correspondence related to the organization of the event had been deleted, the association's website had become inaccessible, and participants had allegedly been instructed to erase information from messaging applications.
The Russian missile strike killed 11 people and injured around 100 others.
The Ukrainian Arms Council confirmed that the attack targeted the venue hosting the exhibition but said it had not organized the event, stating that it had been arranged solely by Armada, one of the council's member companies. Representatives of Ukraine's defense industry were present at the exhibition. Among those killed were an employee of a Polish company and Valentyna Savitska, head of the State Protection Directorate's Center for International Cooperation and Strategic Communications.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said the Russian military struck a private sports complex rather than a military training ground and stressed that the facility had no connection to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukrainian law enforcement has opened two criminal investigations: one into the Russian strike as a war crime, and another into possible negligence related to the organization of the event that allegedly contributed to the loss of life and other serious consequences.
