Ukraine said Thursday it had detained a member of the national guard suspected of opening fire at a factory in the centre of the country and killing five people, IgbereTV reports.
The shooting took place in the city of Dnipro when a gunman opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and immediately fled the scene, the interior ministry said.
Four members of the national guard and a civilian woman were left dead.
The shooting comes at time of heightened alert in Ukraine over the conflict with separatists in the east of the country.
The suspect “has been detained by police”, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said on Facebook, after the serviceman was reported to have fled the scene in possession of a weapon.
Monastyrsky added that five people were injured in shooting early Thursday and that “doctors are fighting to save their lives.”
“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
