Father’s Petition for Son Killed in Crash Reaches 25,000 Signatures

Petition by Oleksiy Hlushych

According to Главком: Oleksiy Hlushych, a Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman and father of 12-year-old Hryhorii who died in a traffic accident at Karavaevi Dachi, has gathered 25,000 signatures for his petition. This threshold means it will now be reviewed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The petition calls for systemic reforms to road safety, citing the driver responsible for the tragedy had a long history of prior violations.

Details of the Crash

The accident occurred on June 5 at around 5:30 PM at the intersection of Vadym Hetman and Ushynsky streets in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district. A Mercedes-Benz C300 traveling at high speed plowed into an underground pedestrian crossing, killing four people, including Hryhorii Hlushych, and injuring three others. Among the deceased were two police officers: 24-year-old Senior Lieutenant Dmytro Bondarchuk and 21-year-old Lieutenant Denys Budchenko. The driver, 49-year-old Pavlo Pleshivtsev from the Kherson region, was sober at the time of the crash.

A pre-trial investigation has been launched under Article 286, Part 3 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, which addresses traffic safety violations resulting in multiple fatalities and carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Notably, the Mercedes driver had 39 recorded traffic violations, mostly for speeding. In 2025 alone, he was penalized five times for speeding and five more times for other infractions. In March 2026, he was involved in another crash with no casualties. Ride-hailing company Bolt permanently banned Pleshivtsev’s account after multiple complaints about speeding and reckless driving.

Ukraine’s road safety statistics underscore a serious crisis. In 2025, traffic accidents claimed 3,249 lives and injured 31,898 people, with an average of nine deaths per day. From 2022 to 2025, 678 children died on Ukrainian roads: 125 in 2022, 171 in 2023, 180 in 2024, and 202 in 2025.

Hlushych emphasizes that his son’s death stems from a systemic failure that the state can no longer overlook.

“The hardest part is realizing that dozens of prior violations did not lead to effective prevention of another tragedy. This fatal crash was the result of a systemic problem that the state can no longer ignore,”

he said. He also stressed that “exceeding safe and posted speed limits is one of the main causes of severe traffic accidents in Ukraine.”

The petition demands:

• That drivers who systematically violate traffic rules lose their right to drive;
• That violations resulting in death carry proportional, effective, and inevitable accountability;
• And that speeding no longer be treated as a minor offense.

The tragedy at Karavaevi Dachi has spotlighted Ukraine’s alarming road safety record. Hlushych’s petition could mark a pivotal step toward legislative change and stricter driver accountability. If adopted, it may help reduce the number of traffic accidents and save lives in the future.

The tragic events surrounding Hryhorii Hlushych's death highlight the alarming issue of unlicensed and reckless driving in Ukraine. Similar incidents, such as a fatal crash involving an unlicensed driver in Kyiv, emphasize the urgent need for comprehensive reforms in road safety regulations to prevent further loss of innocent lives.