- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
Ukraine leader orders probe after conscript shoots five dead
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday ordered police to investigate a mass shooting carried out by a member of the national guard that left five dead and several others fighting for their lives.
In one the worst bouts of violence within Ukraine's security services in years, a 21-year-old national guard conscript opened fire at an aerospace factory in the centre of the country in the early hours of Thursday.
The attack comes as Ukraine is on high alert with concerns over tens of thousands of Russian troops massed around the ex-Soviet country's borders, but there was no immediate link made between the shooting and the looming Russian threat by authorities.
In a statement, Zelensky described reports of the shooting in the industrial city of Dnipro as "terrible" and offered condolences to the victims' friends and family.
"I expect law enforcement officers to keep the public fully informed about all the circumstances of this crime," he said, including the gunman's motives and "how the incident was allowed to happen".
Four members of the national guard and a civilian woman were among those killed when the shooter opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and immediately fled the scene.
- Suspect surrendered -
The incident occurred at around 3:40 am local time (0140 GMT), at the Yuzhmash factory which produces materials related to defence, aeronautics and agriculture.
The interior ministry published images of the shooter with a shaved head and wearing military uniform, identifying him as Artemiy Ryabchuk, born in 2001 in the southern region of Odessa.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky announced that police had detained Ryabchuk and released images of security forces pinning him to snow-blanketed ground.
Monastyrsky said five people had been injured in the shooting and that "doctors are fighting to save their lives."
In a later statement, the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), which probes major crimes, said the gunman had contacted police himself and surrendered to officers in the town of Pidgorodne outside Dnipro.
The DBR said that it launched a criminal case into negligence with the leadership of the national guard, adding the gunman faced life in jail if found guilty.
"Following my order, a commission will be set up to study the circumstances that led to these actions being taken by a 21-year-old soldier, who had been called to defend his country and be responsible for security -- and not to shoot his colleagues," said Monastyrsky.
He added there would be an investigation into how Ryabchuk passed military medical examinations and had been sanctioned to carry a weapon.
- Proliferation of weapons -
Shootings and bullying rituals plagued the militaries of former Soviet countries in the 1990s, particularly in Russia.
It is a trend which rights groups say has improved but still results in suicides or murders in the ex-USSR.
In Ukraine public violence has been perpetrated by veterans of the country's ongoing conflict with pro-Moscow separatists that erupted in 2014 when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
In August last year, a veteran threatened to detonate a hand grenade inside the government headquarters and was detained.
Police said that the man had been injured twice and suffered concussion during the conflict.
In 2018, four Ukrainian marines were killed in an apparent hazing incident while stationed in the country's war-torn east, with two fellow soldiers detained.
The conflict, which has claimed more than 13,000 lives, has also led to a proliferation of weapons among the civilian population.
In 2020, Ukrainian police freed 13 hostages and arrested an armed man who held them on a bus for more than 12 hours, threatening to detonate an explosive device.
Russia is accused of massing some 100,000 troops on Ukraine's borders in preparation for what Western allies say is a possible invasion.
Moscow denies any plans to invade but has put forward demands for wide-ranging security guarantees from the West, including that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO.
E.Paulino--PC