Two recruits opened fire at a Russian military training ground near the border with Ukraine on Saturday, leaving 11 people dead and 15 injured, the state news agency TASS reported.
The shootings happened during a live-fire training exercise in the Belgorod region. The assailants opened fire with small arms before they in turn were fatally shot, the report said, citing the Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
TASS quoted ministry officials as calling the incident a terrorist attack and said the two gunmen were volunteers and citizens of a country from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet republics. The report didn’t specify which country the men came from and whether they were included in the toll of 11 dead.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said Sunday in a video posted on his Telegram messaging channel that “many soldiers were killed and wounded.” No residents of the region were among the fatalities or those injured, he said.
[Volunteers? Suuuuure, TASS. What happens when you arrest unwilling angry men, force them into the military, and hand them a weapon? I’m surprised it took this long for such an incident to emerge, and I’d bet it’s happening on the front lines as well. — Ed]
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