Russian newly-mobilised reservists (File picture)
(Picture: REUTERS)Eleven volunteer Russian soldiers were killed after two men opened fire at a military shooting range near the border with Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry has said.
The gunmen opened fire during a firearms training exercise on Saturday in the Belgorod region, targeting a group who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Both gunmen were shot dead after the attack, authorities said.
“As a result of the incident at a shooting range in Belgorod region, 11 people died from gunshot wounds and another 15 were injured,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said, announcing a criminal investigation.
Russia’s defence ministry said the attackers were from a former Soviet nation, without providing further details.
The ministry branded the incident a terrorist attack.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, wrote on Telegram: “A terrible event happened on our territory, on the territory of one of the military units.
“Many soldiers were killed and wounded... there are no residents of the Belgorod region among the wounded and killed.”
It comes as a further blow to President Vladimir Putin just a week after a blast damaged a bridge linking Russia to Crimea, the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russian forces stepped up attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities over the weekend, launching five missile and 23 air strikes and up to 60 rocket attacks, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Sunday.
In response, Ukraine’s air forces carried out 32 strikes, hitting 24 Russian targets.
Mr Putin recently ordered a mobilisation to boost his flagging invasion after Ukrainian forces recaptured swathes of occupied territory in the east and south.
Around 300,000 reservists are being called up as Russia seeks to halt the advance of the Ukrainian army, Moscow has said. However, the UK Ministry of Defence on Sunday warned their equipment was “almost certainly lower than the already poor provision of previously deployed troops”.
Mr Putin confirmed on Friday that the call-up would end in two weeks.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Telegram on Sunday that Ukraine would prevail in the war because of the continued military aid it is receiving from the West and the cumulative impact of Western sanctions on Russia’s economy.
“Ukraine’s offensive is strategic and the defeat of Russia is inevitable,” he said.
