Shooting Kills Four in Russian-Held Crimea
A serviceman shot dead three civilians and a soldier and wounded four others in Russian-controlled Crimea, according to reports. The shooting, on the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, prompted a security operation. The circumstances and motive were not immediately clear.
Crimea has been under Russian control for more than a decade and heavily militarised since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and shootings involving service personnel are rare but not unknown in a region saturated with weapons and troops. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly struck Russian military targets on the peninsula, though this incident appeared to be internal rather than an attack. Russian authorities said little as they investigated. Such episodes offer a glimpse of the strains within Russia’s vast wartime military. Watch for an official account of what happened.