Gunman attacks Russian military recruiter as thousands flee mobilization

A young man shot and wounded the chief recruitment officer at a military enlistment station in Russia’s Irkutsk region on Monday, local authorities said, as thousands of fighting-age men continued to flee the country to escape President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

The alleged shooter in the attack on the military commissariat in Ust-Ilimsk, a small town in Irkutsk, was apparently distraught that his close friend had been called for duty despite having no prior military service.