Russian nationals enlisted in partial mobilization begin military training after the military convocation for the Russo-Ukrainian war in Rostov, Russia on October 4, 2022.
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Gunner shot and killed 11 people The Russian Defense Ministry said it was in the latest blow to President Vladimir Putin’s forces since the invasion of Ukraine.
The RIA news agency, citing the ministry, said 15 other people were injured in Saturday’s shooting in Russia’s southwestern region of Belgorod bordering Ukraine, when two men opened fire on a group of volunteers. join the war.
It said two assailants – citizens from an unidentified former Soviet republic – were shot dead. Several independent Russian media outlets reported that the death toll was higher than the official figure.
“A terrible event happened on our territory, on the territory of one of the military units,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said early Sunday.
Gladkov said in a video post on the messaging app Telegram: “Many soldiers were killed and wounded … There were no residents of the Belgorod region among the wounded and killed.
The attack came a week after an explosion damaged a bridge in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Earlier in the war, Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea exploded and sank.
RIA quoted a Defense Ministry statement as saying: “During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed their desire to participate in the special military operation (against Ukraine), terrorists opened fire with small arms on the unit’s personnel.”
Mobilization
Just a day earlier, Mr Putin had said Russia should end its two-week reserve call-up, promising an end to a divisive campaign that has seen hundreds of thousands of people called up to fight. in Ukraine and a large number fled the country.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a YouTube interview that the attackers were from the Central Asian country of Tajikistan and opened fire on others after an argument over religion. .
Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim country, while about half of Russians follow different branches of Christianity. The Russian ministry said the attackers were from a country that belongs to the Commonwealth of Independent States, which includes nine former Soviet republics, including Tajikistan.
Reuters was unable to immediately confirm comments by Arestovych, a prominent commentator on the war, or independently verify the casualty figures and other details of the incident.
In another development, Zelenskiy said that the Ukrainian army is still holding strategic town east of Bakhmut despite continued Russian attacks while the situation in the greater Donbas region remains very difficult.
Russian forces have repeatedly tried to capture Bakhmut, located on the main road leading to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Both are located in the Donetsk region.
Attacks
In the 24 hours to Sunday morning, Russian forces targeted more than 30 towns and villages across Ukraine, conducting 5 missile attacks and 23 airstrikes and up to 60 rocket attacks. fire, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Sunday.
In response, the Ukrainian air force carried out 32 airstrikes, hitting 24 Russian targets.
Fighting has been particularly intense in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the strategically important Kherson province to the south, three of the four provinces that Putin declared part of Russia last month.
artillery shelling by Ukrainian forces damaged The administrative building in the city of Donetsk, the capital of the Donetsk region, the Russian-backed government said on Sunday.
Kirill Stremousov, a Russian-installed official in the Kherson region, said on the messaging app Telegram on Sunday that Russian forces had quelled a Ukrainian military offensive in the area and the situation there. “in control”.
Ukraine’s Southern Command said the positions of its forces were under constant attack on Saturday and a small “gun battle” took place near the village of Tryfonivka in the Kherson region.
Russian forces also fired nearly 20 Russian-made Grad rockets on the right bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday said its forces had killed more than 50 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed five tanks near the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnipro River.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports.
Although the Ukrainian military has recaptured thousands of square miles of land in recent attacks to the east and south, officials say progress is likely to slow once Kyiv’s forces meet resistance. more resolute.
Ukrainian forces and civilians are relying on Internet service Starlink powered by Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX. On Friday, Musk said he could no longer afford to fund the service but on Saturday said he would continue to do so.
Zelenskiy said nearly 65,000 Russians have been killed since the February 24 invasion, a much higher number than Moscow’s official September 21 estimate of 5,937 deaths. In August, the Pentagon said Russia had suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties, either killed or wounded.
Zelenskiy Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said on Telegram on Sunday that Ukraine will prevail in the war due to continued military aid it is receiving from the West and the cumulative impact of Western sanctions. for the Russian economy.
“Ukraine’s offensive is strategic and defeat by Russia is inevitable,” Yermak said.
