Kyiv's children aren't allowed to enter shelter with dog in Kyiv: proceedings opened

This is reported by the press service of the National Police.

"The incident occurred on December 14 during an air raid, at about 3:30 p.m. At that time, a brother and sister, born in 2011 and 2012, were heading for the shelter of one of the capital's schools in the Sviatoshynskyi district, where they study. However, a security guard did not let them into the school's bomb shelter. The man forbade them to enter the room because the children were with a pet, a Maltipoo dog," the statement says. 

The police noted that by his actions, the guard left the children in danger during a possible shelling. Investigators opened criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 135 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - leaving in danger.

Journalist Tatiana Danylenko clarified that the father of the children who were not allowed to enter the shelter, Yuriy Ovchynnikov, was killed in the Zaporizhzhia region as a member of the Azov Forces last week.

The girl Sasha and her brother Bohdan, who were not allowed into the shelter, went to look for another shelter, and at that time a rocket was shot down nearby, the journalist noted.

“Their mom was sure that the children were safe because they called her while they were near the shelter. When the girl called in hysterics because she was terrified, the mother had to leave work early to calm Sasha and Bohdan and sort out the situation. The principal assured me that the school had no other choice but to do so, in case other students were allergic to dogs," she wrote.

What the Kyiv City Military Administration says

The head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Serhiy Popko, said he would keep the case under his personal control. He noted that preventing children from entering the shelter is unacceptable.

"So now I am appealing to every manager who is responsible for a complex of shelters or for one specific shelter in the city - conduct an internal inspection and explain to the staff responsible for admitting people! Everyone must understand and follow the categorical rule - all shelters must be open during the emergency and accessible to all Kyiv residents without exception! This is a matter of life! No one will forgive you for any mistakes!" he emphasized.

Popko added that the Kyiv City Military Administration will take measures to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.

Tragedy at the shelter in Kyiv

On the night of June 1, Russia launched a massive ballistic missile attack on the capital of Ukraine. In the Desnianskyi district, one of the shelters where people ran to hide when the air raid alert began was the underground building of Polyclinic number 3, but it was closed. As a result of the fall of the downed missile in front of the closed entrance to the shelter, three Kyiv residents died: two women and a minor girl.

On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to punish all those responsible for the tragedy. In addition, he held a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, instructing that all shelters in Ukraine, including those in the capital, be inspected. Kyiv authorities said that from now on, all shelters in the city would be open at all times.