In the village of Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv, clashes continued all day on November 2 near one of the private houses where soldiers were allegedly being held. The commander of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) Oleksandr Pivnenko and the head of the Presidential Office (OP) Kyrylo Budanov arrived at the scene.
Babel has collected the most important information about these events.
Where did it all begin?
On the afternoon of November 2, a number of Telegram channels wrote that armed men were holding 40 hostages in the basement of a house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka. People gathered outside the house, demanding to be let inside and claiming that “people were being tortured there”. They also wrote about a person who died as a result of the clashes.
Videos of a woman claiming that her boyfriend, who had gone to AWOL, was being held in the house and money was being demanded for him were also being shared on social media. A video of a woman in an ambulance uniform was also being shared, stating that among the people being held inside were "beaten, with broken spines and necrosis".
Young men present at the scene tried to kick down the gate with their feet, and people in medical uniforms broadcast the incident on social media.
Later, the police arrived at the scene. They said they had received a call from the private ambulance doctors that they were not allowed to see the man. Upon arriving at the scene, the police found National Guard soldiers there, and nearby local residents.
The police denied that people were being illegally detained in the house, and also denied information about the deceased.
Who called the police?
"Slidstvo.Info" spoke with the police and found out that law enforcement officers were called to the scene by a woman who introduced herself as the owner of the private clinic "Med-Prestige".
The clinic was registered in February 2012 in Mykolaiv. The owner of the company is an Israeli citizen Mikhail Furman. The man previously had Russian citizenship, but after the start of a full-scale war (approximately in 2023-2024) he renounced it.
Journalists spoke with Furman. He said that the “Med-Prestige” clinic actually ceased operations in 2023, but the LLC was not closed. According to the man, the company had five ambulances: one was given to the Mykolaiv military, the other four were sold. Furman noted that the car that arrived in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka was sold last — in 2024.
"[One of] the conditions of the sale was that they would remove all of our ʼMed-Prestigeʼ logos. They have no right to use my trademark. She has no right to represent herself as the owner either," Furman said.
The woman, who presented herself as a doctor, was identified by journalists as Valentyna Moloda. She is the founder and head of the SE "International Association of Injection Doctors in the Field of Aesthetic Medicine" and works at the “Moloda-ya” plastic and aesthetic surgery clinic.
Who was in the house and were there any injuries?
The National Guard Commander Oleksandr Pivnenko said that the building was occupied by National Guard servicemen who had voluntarily left the military unit. According to him, the building is a temporary deployment point for the unit, where mobilized personnel are transported through the Central Military District. There, they complete documents, undergo checks, and then are sent to training centers.
Four servicemen who needed medical attention were transported to the National Guard Medical Center. Another 18 servicemen who were at the house were able to call their families.
The National Guard clarified that the situation near the house was at the dialogue stage. They promised to appoint an official investigation to clarify the circumstances of the incident and provide a legal assessment.
Relatives of the servicemen and members of the public were allowed to enter the premises. NGU also promised to update information on the condition of the servicemen and the results of the inspection.
The 1st Corps of NGU “Azov” stated that the building in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka is a temporary deployment point for the 14th Assault Regiment of NGU “Azov”, which is part of the 1st Corps. According to them, Pivnenko showed relatives of the military the conditions in which the mobilized and those who voluntarily left the military unit are located and are waiting to be sent to other units.
The head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov also arrived at the scene of the riots. He found a boy there who said he was 14 years old and had come to the scene with his friends.
Towards nightfall, the situation on the scene escalated again: shots rang out, people threw stones at the windows of the building, lit smoke bombs and firecrackers, and tried to overturn the bus.
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