Two men on Saturday fired at troops at a Russian military firing range near Ukraine, killing 11 and wounding 15 others, before getting killed in counter gunfire.
In a statement, Russia’s defense ministry said that the shooting took place in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia that borders Ukraine.
It said that the two men from an unnamed ex-Soviet nation fired on soldiers during target practice and were killed by return fire. According to the authorities, they were nationals from a former Soviet republic but did not give any details.
In an official statement, The state RIA news agency said:
“During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the special military operation (against Ukraine), the terrorists opened fire with small arms on the personnel of the unit.”
“As a result of the shooting, 11 people were fatally wounded. Another 15 people with wounds of varying severity were taken to a medical facility.”
No civilians were killed in the attack at a military base in Russia’s Belgorod region, but many soldiers were killed or wounded, the governor of Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said early on Sunday.
The war has escalated into a more dangerous fight, as Putin said on Friday that over 220,000 reservists already had been called up as part of an effort to recruit 300,000.
Authorities have acknowledged that the mobilization was often poorly organized and promised to improve the situation.
Even though the Russian leader declared that only people who had recently served in the military will be subject to the call-up, activists and rights groups reported military conscription offices rounding up people without any army experience — some of whom were also unfit for service for medical reasons.
Some of the freshly called-up reservists posted videos of them being forced to sleep on the floor or even outside and given rusty weapons before being sent to the front lines.
