On Saturday, two men opened fire on soldiers on a Russian military firing range bordering Ukraine, killing 11 and injuring 15, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russia's RIA news agency reported two gunmen opened fire with small guns on Saturday during a firearms training exercise, targeting servicemen who had enlisted to fight in Ukraine. The gunmen, whom RIA referred to as "terrorists" were killed, according to RIA.
According to the government, the incident occurred in the Belgorod region of southern Russia, near the Ukrainian border.
"As a result of the incident at a shooting range in Belgorod region, 11 people died from gunshot wounds and another 15 were injured," Russia's Investigative Committee said. No other details were given.
The incident happens as President Vladimir Putin hastily mobilizes Russian military in Ukraine, an action that sparked riots and forced hundreds of thousands to escape Russia.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a senior Ukrainian official, claimed that the two men were from Tajikistan, a predominantly Muslim country in Central Asia, and that they had opened fire on the others following a dispute over religion.
The number of fatalities was reportedly higher than the official estimates, according to several independent media sites in Russia.
No locals were among the dead or hurt, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region.
Putin said on Friday that Russia should be done calling up reservists in two weeks, putting an end to a controversial mobilization in which hundreds of thousands of men have been called up to fight in Ukraine, with many fleeing the country.
The mobilization was fraught from the outset, with officials sending mixed signals about who should be called up for service in a country where nearly all men under the age of 65 are designated as reservists.
Despite the Russian leader's declaration that only persons who had recently served in the military would be called up, activists and rights groups reported military conscription offices scooping up people with no army experience - some of whom were also medically unfit for service.
Strong Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus announced last week that his country's military will deploy alongside Russian forces close to the Ukrainian border in response to what he claimed were threats from the West and Ukraine.
Just under 9,000 Russian soldiers will be stationed in Belarus as part of a "regional grouping" of forces to guard its borders, the Belarusian military ministry in Minsk announced on Sunday.
