KYIV. Feb 3 (Interfax) - Patrol service officers held two men in the Svyatoshinskiy District in Kyiv last Friday, January 31, from whom they seized a homemade firearm and a pistol with rubber bullets.
The men said they had been given the weapon at Independence Square (Maidan), the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's Directorate for Public Relations said on Monday.
"The 30-year-old Vitali arrived in Kyiv from the Poltava region and was hoping to make good money in the Maidan. He says he signed up for one of squadrons straight away on the condition of being paid 200 hryvni per day of 'work.' The young man's duties included tent protection, participation in mass rallies, and so on. It was from one of his fellow comrade-in-arms that he obtained the weapon in order to shoot at the policemen who are on duty on Hrushevsky Street, but he says he did not get a chance to use the obtained weapon," the statement said.
"His 45-year-old friend was also actively involved in the protests, and even defended the Ministry of Agriculture against Svoboda Party supporters, while fighting on the side of the Spilna Sprava movement," the police said.
"The man said that he saw many people carrying various weapons in the Maidan. The pistol that the law enforcers found on him was given to him from the squadron's senior member," the ministry said.
The seized weapons have been sent for testing.
A criminal case has been opened over the incident.