Crime rate down 13% in Ukraine - police chief

This was stated by the chief of the National Police Ihor Klymenko in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"More darkness, but also more police on the streets. The crime rate in Ukraine today has decreased by 13%, and during the blackout - Wednesday-Thursday - the rate decreased by 16%. The presence of policemen, interaction with the population and how the communities unite – this all yielded the result," the official clarified.

Klymenko noted that the National Police understand that they have a lot of challenges ahead of them, and the task is to keep the country safe in terms of the criminal situation.

"This also applies to fraud, which has increased in our state since the start of hostilities, and it also applies to property and apartment thefts. We understand how many people left their homes and how many statements we had that these homes were destroyed by the enemy, including in Kharkiv and Kherson region, or were looted by the enemy," he said.

The head of the National Police also stated that during the war, the police dealt with criminals quite harshly, and in most cases the criminals “heard them and calmed down a little.”

"We control all our local groups that were out there before the war so that they can’t raise their heads. First of all, I mean organized crime, which poses a threat to our citizens and our country," the official informed.

Answering the question of whether there was organized crime in the temporarily occupied areas, which joined the Russian forces, Klymenko clarified that the police are yet to establish such facts this over time. "But usually it’s not the case. It is pretty much petty crime," he said.

As reported, on November 24, the head of the Kyiv Region PD, Andriy Nebytov, said that the crime rate did not increase amid power outages.

Photo: National Police of Ukraine