Key events
No civilians were killed in the attack at a military base in Russia’s Belgorod region, but many soldiers were killed or wounded, the governor of Belgorod region said early on Sunday.
Vyacheslav Gladkov was quoted by Reuters as saying on the Telegram messaging app:
A terrible event happened on our territory, on the territory of one of the military units.
Many soldiers were killed and wounded … There are no residents of the Belgorod region among the wounded and killed.
Gladkov did not say how many soldiers were killed. The Russian state news agency RIA cited the defence ministry as saying 11 people were killed and 15 wounded.
Some Russian independent media outlets reported that the number of casualties was higher than the official figures.
Russian attack on fellow troops occurred after ‘argument over religion’
An adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the two Russian volunteers who opened fire on fellow volunteers at a military base had carried out the attack after an argument over religion.
At least 11 people were killed and 15 wounded in the shooting at a military training ground in the Belgorod region in south-western Russia on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry has said. The two attackers were shot dead.
Reuters reported that Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Zelenskiy, 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 predominantly Muslim, while around 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.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the comments by Arestovych, a prominent commentator on the war.
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) south-east of Belgorod.
The Russian state media outlet RIA cited a defence ministry statement as saying:
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 attack took place a week after an explosion damaged a bridge in Crimea linking to Russia.
Summary
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here’s a rundown on the latest news and overnight developments as it just passes 9.30am in Kyiv.
-
At least 11 people were killed and 15 wounded at a military training ground in south-west Russia’s Belgorod region when two volunteers opened fire on other troops, the Russian defence ministry said. The shooters were nationals from a former Soviet republic and had been shot dead after Saturday’s shooting, the ministry said, calling it a terrorist attack. Baza, a Russian news site with close ties to police, said the attack occurred at 10am local time during shooting practice.
-
Elon Musk has announced his company SpaceX will continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine, a day after suggesting he could not keep funding the project. “The hell with it,” the billionaire tweeted on Saturday. “Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
-
Russia has continued to try to hit Ukrainian’s energy infrastructure but Vladimir Putin’s forces did not appear to have enjoyed any significant success. One missile seriously damaged a key energy facility in the region around Ukraine’s capital, however, and 10 missiles and four drones hit locations in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
-
Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks near 11 settlements, the Kyiv Independent has reported. According to the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, Russian forces were attempting to advance near the settlements of Novosadove, Yakovlivka, Berestove, Bakhmut, Bakhmutske, Opytne, Krasnohorivka, Nevelske, Pervomaiske, Mariinka, and Pobieda.
-
France will train up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers on its territory, France’s minister for the armed forces told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview on Saturday. Sebastien Lecornu said soldiers would “be taken into our units for several weeks”, and that France would also provide Ukraine with Crotale air defence systems, without specifying how many.
-
Iran has reiterated that it rejects accusations it has supplied Russia with weapons “to be used in the war in Ukraine”, its foreign ministry said. The topic is due to be discussed by EU foreign ministers in a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday. In a statement, the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, “emphasised that the Islamic republic of Iran has not and will not provide any weapon to be used in the war in Ukraine”.
-
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has revealed the identity of the “Ghost of Vinnytsia” who had replaced the “Ghost of Kyiv”, which turned out to be propaganda. The pilot, named as Vadym, has been Ukraine’s poster fighter in the past few weeks after multiple reports of Russian losses in Ukrainian skies.
-
A fuel depot in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, caught fire after shelling on Saturday, its governor said, without specifying the shelling’s origin.
-
The Russian foreign ministry has confirmed the re-equipping of Belarusian Su-25 aircraft to carry nuclear weapons, according to the Belarusian Hajun project.
-
Ukrainian troops have launched an offensive in Kherson oblast, the Kyiv Independent reported, while it has not been confirmed by Ukraine.
-
Dane Partridge, a 34-year-old man from Idaho who fought as a volunteer soldier in Ukraine, died on Tuesday from injuries sustained during a Russian attack in Luhansk, AP reported.