Refusing to give cigarettes resulted in an attack: two people were robbed and beaten

In Snihurivka police detained an 18-year-old resident of Kherson region, who is suspected of robbery involving the use of physical violence. According to the police, the attack occurred after two residents of the Snihurivka community refused to share cigarettes. This was reported on 23 May 2026 by the Mykolaiv police.

To Police Station No.2 of the Bashtanka District Police Department on 22 May 2026 at about 01:50 a 27-year-old resident of Snihurivka reported a robbery. The investigative-operational group established that the complainant, together with his 31-year-old acquaintance, was walking along Hetman Sahaidachnyi Street. At that moment a VAZ-2106 car stopped near them, and an unknown man got out.

According to the police, the man asked the passers-by if they had cigarettes. After being refused, he inflicted bodily injuries on the victims, took their bags containing a mobile phone, a tablet, headphones and personal items, and then fled the scene.

Law enforcement received descriptions of the attacker and information about the vehicle. Operatives together with officers of the patrol police response sector of Police Station No.2 of the Bashtanka district department identified the person involved, who was moving around the town in the vehicle indicated by the victims. The suspect was an 18-year-old resident of Kherson region. Police seized the taken items, and the young man himself was detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

Under the procedural guidance of the Snihurivka division of the Bashtanka district prosecutor’s office, investigators informed the person involved of suspicion under Part 4 of Article 186 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – robbery combined with violence, committed under martial law. The article’s sanction provides for up to 10 years of imprisonment. The court has already chosen a preventive measure for the suspect – detention with the possibility of bail. The pretrial investigation continues.

Against the backdrop of martial law such crimes are qualified more severely, and a domestic conflict over cigarettes can result in a real, substantial prison term behind bars.

Reminder: earlier we wrote:

• Two locals were sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment for a robbery at the station under martial law
• Conflict at a gas station in Mykolaiv region: outsiders beat and robbed locals
• Daylight attack in a multimarket in Mykolaiv region: the robber was released to house arrest
• Street robbery in Mykolaiv region: the money was spent, the phone was handed in, and freedom — lost
• Brutal attack in a Mykolaiv pharmacy: a woman sprayed gas into the pharmacist’s face and stole money