Russian soldier opens fire killing three civilians and one colleague in Crimea
A Russian soldier in Crimea opened fire and killed four people – one colleague and three civilians – in an apparent random gun rampage.
The solider first opened fire on his colleagues, killing one and wounding another.
An official said the solider then turned his weapon on civilians, killing three, in the village of Khmelnytske.
According to the BBC, the victims were two men, aged 71 and 59, and a 64-year-old woman.
Three other people were wounded, said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the Sevastopol region. He said the attacker had been arrested.
There was no information on the motive for the attacks.
“All circumstances and causes of the incident are being established,” said Razvozhayev, urging people to remain calm and not to spread rumours.
Razvozhayev said medical staff were “doing everything possible to save” those injured. And it is not yet clear whether the death toll was expected to rise.
Crimea is a strategic and heavily militarised peninsula on the Black Sea, which Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russia has controlled the region since then.
The annexation has been mostly rejected by the international community and it is mostly considered as occupied Ukrainian land.
There is a large military presence in Crimea. Ukraine has targeted the region with drone and missile strikes.
On Sunday, it was reported that Russian air defenses shot down 635 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow did say how many were launched or struck targets.
