On June 5 at around 5:30 PM on Chokolivsky Boulevard in Solomianski District of Kyiv, a Mercedes-Benz traveling at high speed left the roadway and crashed into an underground pedestrian passage. The car passed through it completely and crashed onto the sidewalk. Four people died at the scene — three adults and a 12-year-old boy.
Who died
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, among the victims were two patrol police officers performing their duties: Senior Lieutenant Dmytro Bondarchuk (23 years old, from Boyarka) and Lieutenant Denys Budchenko (21 years old, from Rivne region). Also killed were a 47-year-old woman and 12-year-old Hryhoriy Hlushych — a student of the Waldorf school "Sofia," for whom that day was the last school day in 6th grade. Three more people were hospitalized with injuries.
Who was driving
The car's driver turned out to be Pavlo Pleshyvtsev, born in 1976, a resident of Kherson region and head of a religious community of evangelical Christian Baptists "Church of Pidstepne Village." Rescuers freed him from the mangled cabin and hospitalized him.
An examination confirmed that he was sober at the time of the accident. However, the chronology of violations speaks for itself:
- Since January 2025 — 5 fines for speeding and 5 fines for other traffic violations — a total of 10 fines in 1.5 years.
- Before the tragedy, he had already been involved in four recorded accidents, two of which occurred in 2025.
- Police recorded 39 traffic violations for the Mercedes-Benz C300, mostly for speeding.
What he's charged with
Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office informed Pleshyvtsev of a suspicion under Part 3, Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — violation of road safety rules that caused the death of several persons. The sanction provides for up to 10 years imprisonment with deprivation of the right to drive for up to three years.
"In addition to the notice of suspicion, he was served a motion to select a preventive measure in the form of detention without alternative bail."
— Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office
That is, prosecutors will ask the court to arrest Pleshyvtsev without the possibility of bail. The proceedings are conducted under the procedural supervision of juvenile prosecutors — since one of the victims was a child.
If the court grants the motion for arrest without bail, it will mean that Pleshyvtsev will remain in custody until the verdict. The question is different: whether this case will cause a systemic review of how Ukrainian courts and the administrative system respond to repeat traffic violators — those whom fines do not stop.
