News

Strikes Hit Russian Border Region, a Key Staging Ground for Troops


Credit… Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times

Two men opened fire on Russian soldiers at a training camp in the Belgorod region on Saturday, killing 11 and injuring 15, before killing themselves, according to Russian state news agencies.

According to state media outlets RIA Novosti and TASS, the Russian Defense Ministry called the incident a terrorist attack.

The account of the shooting could not be independently verified.

A statement from the ministry said the two men were from a former Soviet country and opened fire on other soldiers while practicing targeting at a shooting range, RIA Novosti reported.

It remains unclear whether the attackers were volunteers participating in the training. Earlier reports suggested that they were volunteers.

Law enforcement representatives were working at the scene, the statement said, without giving the name or exact location of the training camp. The camp is located in Belgorod, the Russian region just across the border from Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, which was attacked by Russian troops in the early stages of the war but has recently been attacked. revoked by Ukraine.

The shooting comes after President Vladimir V. Putin announced massive mobilization last month to bolster his faltering war effort in Ukraine, where Ukrainian troops are retaking territory to the east and west. south occupied by Russia.

Putin said at least 220,000 reservists had been called up. At least 16,000 of them have been deployed “in units engaged in fulfilling combat missions,” Putin told a news conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Friday, adding that he expected Fundraising will be completed within two weeks.

Russian media have reported at least 7 deaths among those who have just been arrested. Asked on Friday why some servicemen die soon after the mobilization begins, Putin said that in some cases training can take as little as 10 days.

At the end of September, Mr. Putin admits that there had been “mistakes” in the way the Russian government implemented his draft. He described cases where people were wrongfully deferred, such as fathers of many children, men with chronic illnesses or those over the age of enlistment.

Russian news reports do not specify which former Soviet country the shooters were from; The Russian military allows some foreigners to serve under contract, which may bring them a path to citizenship.

Inside Russia, Mr. Putin the draft was met with growing resistance after it seems to hit minorities and rural areas harder than big cities.

Interviews last month with people in three regions of Russia’s predominantly Muslim Caucasus Mountains showed apprehension about widespread mobilization. In Chechnya, one small business owner described seeing few men on the streets of Grozny, the capital, and said a mosque that usually overflows on Fridays was a third empty.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, a local activist reported that a village of 2,500 people had seen 38 conscripts, and there were rumors of young men injuring themselves to avoid imprisoned. But few people object, he said, because civic life has been virtually liquidated.

And in Ingushetia, a Russian Army officer said he was trying to avoid going to Ukraine.

“People were almost panicking,” he said. “Police are stopping cars and delivering draft notices.”

All remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

Ivan Nechepurenko and Anton Troianovski contribution report.

Adjust:

October 15, 2022

A headline on an earlier version of this article misrepresented the number of soldiers killed in a shooting at a training camp in Belgorod. That’s 11, not 15.

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button