On Harmatna Street in Kyiv, the Patrol Police stopped a Honda driver who failed to respond to a stop order and continued driving in the public transport lane. According to the head of the Patrol Police Department, Oleksandr Biloshitsky, as published in his Telegram channel, after a pursuit and the stopping of the vehicle, the driver and passenger behaved aggressively, used profanity toward the officers, and at some point physically attacked the police. The driver, it is specified, struck a patrol officer in the face. The incident has drawn particular attention because the person behind the wheel was a man with a prosthetic limb.
Biloshitsky's statement: "This gives no right to hit someone in the face"
In his address, Oleksandr Biloshitsky emphasized that the Patrol Police Department deeply respects military personnel and serves "side by side with all our brothers and sisters in the Defense Forces." He noted that the patrol police units also include many wounded officers of varying degrees of severity. However, according to the department head, the status of a servicemember or the presence of a prosthetic limb "gives no right to hit someone in the face and cover them in profanity, especially a police officer on duty." Biloshitsky called for mutual respect and a normal attitude toward "routine situations."
Online video and the question of interpretation
Biloshitsky specifically drew attention to the fact that a fragment of video from the scene of the incident is being actively shared on social media, which, in his words, is "presented differently from how it actually was." The head of the Patrol Police Department urged citizens to watch the full video in order to form their own opinion about what happened. Thus, the official position of the law enforcement authorities clearly indicates that a distorted picture of the conflict is being formed in the public sphere, in which the initiative of aggression is shifted onto the police.
Contradictory data
Open sources and social media contain two competing interpretations of the incident. On the one hand, Biloshitsky and the Patrol Police Department claim that it was the driver and passenger who first displayed aggression escalating into physical violence, and that the video clip circulating online has been taken out of context. On the other hand, a number of users and part of the media agenda emphasize that the person behind the wheel was a person with a prosthetic limb — presumably a combat veteran — and present the incident as an excessive reaction by the law enforcement authorities. The factual circumstances — the stop for a traffic violation, the pursuit, the aggressive behavior, and the strike to the face — have been confirmed by Biloshitsky himself, however, the assessment of who is the "root cause" of the conflict remains a subject of public debate.
Context: tightening of liability for traffic violations
The incident on Harmatna Street occurred against the backdrop of preparations in Ukraine for legislative changes aimed at strengthening liability for traffic rule violations. Previously, Biloshitsky had reported plans to tighten penalties for drifting, drunk driving, and excessive noise levels. In addition, the Patrol Police Department refuted media information that "Phantom" patrol vehicles had already taken to the roads of Ukraine. In parallel, on August 19 in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv, a 23-year-old Volkswagen Golf driver crashed into a public transport stop, and he was notified of suspicion. Taken together, these events form a picture of the police's systematic work to curb serious traffic violations in the capital.
Reaction and next steps
As of the time of publication, information on whether administrative offense protocols were drawn up or a criminal case was opened against the Honda driver does not appear in Biloshitsky's public statements. The Patrol Police, as follows from the statement, intends to rely on the full video recordings from the scene for an objective investigation. It is expected that the final legal qualification of the actions of both parties will be given after the completion of the review.
