Sources in the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration confirmed: the night shooting has to do with smuggling

On the night of Wednesday (31.08), in the village of Nyzhnya Apsha in Tyachiv district, there was a skirmish between two groups of men, which escalated into a shooting with firearms.

On the outskirts of the village, at a gas station, a group of residents of Mukachevo (including previously convicted) tried to sort things out with residents of Tyachiv district engaged in smuggling of cigarettes through "green belt" from Ukraine to Romania. According to preliminary data, the cause of the conflict is the debt for supplied cigarettes, that Tyachiv smugglers received from Mukachevo but did not pay for, since they lost the goods during smuggling across the border. First, there was a verbal altercation between the two groups that escalated into a fight. Then, one of the locals standing aside took out of a car an SMG and opened chaotic fire at the visitors. In total, more than 20 bullets were fired.

As a result, four Mukachevo men aged 22 to 36 years old suffered gunshot wounds of varying degrees of severity.They are all now in hospital, one of them is in critical condition.