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At least 11 people were killed and 15 wounded when two volunteers opened fire on other soldiers at a military training ground in south-western Russia’s Belgorod region on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The ministry said in a statement that the two gunmen were citizens of former Soviet republics and were shot dead after the attack.
The ministry termed the incident as a terrorist attack.
Russian news agency Tass said in a statement that the two terrorists were killed in exchange fire.
According to Basa, a Russian news site with close ties to the police, the shooting happened around 10 a.m. local time during shooting practice.
Saturday’s mass shooting points to growing tensions among Russia’s troops, problems that have plagued the military since the start of the war.
The incident comes as tens of thousands of newly drafted Russian men are sent to Ukraine in what has turned out to be a highly unpopular move ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to counter Ukrainian advances.
The hasty campaign of mobilization caused outrage across the country and led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Russians unwilling to take part in the war.
At a news conference in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Friday, Putin said 16,000 conscripted troops were already fighting in Ukraine and 222,000 Russians had already been called up.
According to local reports, more than 20 newly recruited soldiers have already been killed in action in Ukraine.
Multiple videos have also emerged showing many men being subjected to poor conditions in training centers while awaiting deployment to Ukraine, while some of the deaths in Russia’s mobilization centers also indicate serious problems with morale.
A man shot himself at a military base near St. Petersburg during training. Another in Siberia reportedly cut his own throat in the mess hall.
Inn Putin’s video address Published on Saturday, the mothers of a group of men from Bryansk, a city less than 100 miles from the border with Ukraine, demanded their son’s return, calling the mobilization process a “farce”.
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