Ukraine’s Interior ministry said four Ukrainian National Guardsman and one civilian were killed and five others were wounded Thursday after a guardsmen open fired on them with an assault rifle.
In a video statement, an interior ministry spokeswoman said the incident occurred early Thursday in the city of Dnipro, 500 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
The spokeswoman said the soldier, identified by authorities as 20-year-old Artemiy Ryabchuk, was on guard duty at a military factory and opened fire on his colleagues with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, fleeing the scene immediately after. She said four soldiers and one civilian died at the scene, and five other people sustained injuries.
The spokeswoman said Ryabchuk was detained by police a short time later. The motive for the attack was unclear.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded authorities thoroughly investigate and analyze the incident.
The shooting comes at a time heightened tensions in Ukraine, as Russian has amassed some 100,000 soldiers and equipment at its border with the neighboring country, raising fears of an imminent invasion.
Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse.
