Highlights
- The attack comes just as Ukrainian troops pressed an offensive to reclaim some areas
- The areas were illegally annexed by Moscow
- The attack took place on Saturday during a training session at the Western Military District
Russia Ukraine war: At least 11 people were killed, while 15 others were injured in a deadly terror attack on a Russian military site. According to the details, the attack was reported from the Belgorod region. The Russian Defense Ministry said two volunteer soldiers fired at other troops at a Russian military firing range near Ukraine, before being killed.
The attack comes just as Ukrainian troops pressed an offensive to reclaim the areas in the country’s south that were illegally annexed by Moscow.
In a statement post the attack, the ministry stated the shooting took place in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia that borders Ukraine.
It said that the two volunteers from an unnamed ex-Soviet nation fired on other soldiers during target practice and were killed by return fire.
The ministry called the incident a terrorist attack.
The attack took place on Saturday during a training session at the Western Military District, according to TASS, which cited the Russian Defense Ministry.
The gunmen were said to be from former Soviet states.
"As a result of a terrorist attack at a military training ground in the Belgorod region, 11 people were killed, 15 were injured and are receiving medical assistance," the report stated.
"The incident occurred during a shooting training session with volunteers preparing for a special operation. The terrorists attacked the personnel of the unit with small-arms fire."
Russia has lost ground in the nearly seven weeks since Ukraine’s armed forces opened their southern counteroffensive.
This week, the Kremlin launched what is believed to be its largest coordinated air and missile raids on Ukraine’s key infrastructure since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
In the continuation of those attacks, a missile strike Saturday seriously damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine’s capital region, the country’s grid operator said.
Following mounting setbacks, the Russian military has worked to cut off power and water in far-flung populated areas while also fending off Ukrainian counterattacks in occupied areas.
On Friday, Putin said Moscow didn’t see a need for additional massive strikes but his military would continue selective ones.
He said that of 29 targets the Russian military planned to knock out in this week’s attacks, seven weren’t damaged and would be taken out gradually.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, interpreted Putin’s remarks as intended to counter criticism from pro-war Russian bloggers who “largely praised the resumption of strikes against Ukrainian cities, but warned that a short campaign would be ineffective.”
In the southern Kherson region, one of the first areas of Ukraine to fall to Russia after the invasion and which Putin also illegally designated as Russian territory last month, Ukrainian forces pressed their counteroffensive Saturday.
Kyiv’s army has reported recapturing 75 villages and towns there in the last month but said the momentum had slowed, with the fighting settling into the sort of grueling back-and-forth that characterized Russia’s months-long offensive to conquer Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
(With inputs from agencies)
