Deadly Shooting After an Argument Between Ukrainian Troopers in Kharkiv Region

On Wednesday, July 24, following some sort of disagreement there was a shooting in one of the units of Ukraine’s Defense Forces based in the Kharkiv Region. As a result, three soldiers were killed and four were seriously wounded, according to the Telegram channel of the Khortytsia operational and strategic group of troops.

The wounded servicemen were sent to the Military Medical Clinical Center for emergency medical care, where it is currently reported they remain in critical condition.

The Khortytsia did not specify the details of the conflict between the military or the unit in which the incident occurred but said that the military law and order service as well as civilian polic officials were working at the scene.

“Management is taking all necessary measures to prevent such incidents in the future,” it added.

Violence among fellow soldiers involving mass shootings is, fortunately, a rare occurrence but remains a sensitive issue for both Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.

In January 2022, only weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion, a 21-year-old Ukrainian national guard conscript, named as Artemiy Ryabchuk, killed four fellow soldiers and a civilian with an assault rifle at an aerospace factory in Pivdenmash near the eastern city of Dnipro. The incident occurred as weapons were being issued to the security detail at the factory. It was suspected that Ryabchuk had been the target of bullying by some of his older comrades.

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In May 2024, a 57-year-old Russian junior sergeant who had been recruited from a penal colony was reported to have shot dead six other servicemen in an artillery battalion based in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR). He went on the run with his issue assault rifle and was eventually arrested after police scoured Russia’s Rostov, Belgorod and Voronezh border regions.

That incident occurred as the trial started of a former Russian platoon commander, Sergeant Dmitry Lobovikov, who killed seven members of his unit and injured at least 10 others during a drunken rampage following Russian New Year celebrations on Jan. 13 and 14, 2023.