Russia: 11 killed in shooting at military base in Belgorod

Gunmen have opened fire at a Russian military training ground near Ukraine, killing at least 11 people and wounding 15 others, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence.

The ministry said the “terrorist” attack took place on Saturday in the southwestern Belgorod region that borders Ukraine.

It said the two assailants – nationals from an unspecified former Soviet republic – fired on volunteer soldiers during target practice and were killed by return fire.

The shooting comes amid a hasty mobilisation ordered by President Vladimir Putin to beef up Russian forces in Ukraine – a move that triggered protests and caused hundreds of thousands to flee Russia. It also comes a week after a blast damaged a bridge in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

“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,” the defence ministry statement said.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a YouTube interview that the attackers were from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan and had opened fire on the others after an argument over religion.

Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim nation, while about half of Russians follow various branches of Christianity. The Russian ministry had said the attackers were from a nation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, which groups nine ex-Soviet republics, including Tajikistan.

Al Jazeera was not immediately able to confirm the comments by Arestovych.

The independent Russian news website Sota Vision said the attack occurred in the small town of Soloti, close to the Ukrainian border and about 105km (65 miles) southeast of Belgorod.