Update: the suspect has been arrested, the governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev He said Wednesday.
Russian news agency TASS reported that police in Russia’s Rostov region are searching for a suspected Russian army deserter who shot police officers in the southern Russian city of Novoshakhtinsk near the Russia-Ukraine border on Tuesday.
The man reportedly shot at police officers after he walked out of a wooded area on the outskirts of the city in Russia’s southern Rostov region, injuring one of the officers.
According to the Russian news agency Mash, the man is suspected of being a deserter from the Russian army.
Kindergartens were closed as well as some roads in and out of the city, and local authorities advised residents to stay at home.
Security concerns in the city, which lies just 20 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, follow a wave of attacks on Russian soil believed to have been carried out by the Ukrainian military as Kyiv’s tactics in the war continue to change.
A drone attack on an airport in Russia’s border region of Kursk on Tuesday set an oil storage tank on fire, while Moscow blamed Kyiv for two similar attacks on Monday after explosions at air bases in the Ryazan and Saratov regions killed three soldiers and wounded four others. .
Russia’s border regions are still feeling the effects of the conflict, with satellite imagery last month showing trenches being dug and roadblocks erected in the Belgorod border region.
However, Tuesday’s shooting in Novoshakhtinsk is the first suspected case of fleeing back to Russia and shooting security officials.
