Russia Ukraine war news: Gunman opens fire in conscript office

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A gunman has opened fire at a Russian military recruiter office in the Far East city of Irkutsk, leaving the main military recruiter in a critical condition.

Dramatic footage of the man walking up to the recruiter, standing on the podium in front of new conscripts, firing a single shot at close range while yelling, ‘Nobody is going to fight!’

The man – identified as Ruslan Zinin, 25 – was angry after his friend was drafted into the army and told his mother that he was going to the recruiting office to volunteer, according to local reports.

Igor Kobzev, the governor of the Irkutsk region, said military commissioner Alexander Eliseev was in “critical condition” after the attack and the gunman was arrested on the spot “and will certainly be punished.”

It comes as opposition to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine mounts after he gives orders to enlist men in the military while a recruitment office in the Volgograd region is bombed overnight.

Russian military commissar is shot dead

Shooter points his gun at other conscripts

Shooter points his gun at other conscripts

This is when gunman Ruslan Zinin, 25 (far left and second right), walked into a Russian recruiting office in Irkutsk and shot military commissar Alexander Eliseev (second from left).

Conscripts flee for their lives after shooting

Conscripts flee for their lives after shooting

Conscripts flee for their lives after shooting

Conscripts flee for their lives after shooting

Zinin (left) was reportedly angry that his best friend had been called up to fight in Ukraine and told his mother he was going to volunteer (right, conscripts fleeing for their lives)

Footage shows local man Mikhail Filatov, 35, backing a car into the building before flooding it with gasoline and setting it on fire.

He has since been arrested and told police that he attacked the office in protest against the mobilization order.

Demonstrations are still taking place all over Russia, according to the monitoring group OVD-Info, more than 2,300 people have been arrested so far.

Meanwhile, people continue to flee the country, with an estimated 260,000 people having crossed the border to evade Putin’s military service.

Footage shows dozens of people — at least one in military-style camouflage — trudging along the Kazbegi border crossing high in the Caucasus Mountains.

Protests against Putin’s draft order have been most pronounced in the southern region of Dagestan – about 105 miles east of the border crossing – where police and other officials have been attacked/

Women have been filmed clashing with police in an effort to prevent men from being dragged away for forced labor.

They chanted ‘No to war’ and ‘Shame on you’. In a video, a woman can be heard saying, “Don’t let them take our men.”

One of the images shows a police officer confronting an angry mob of women – one of whom tells him: ‘Russia attacked Ukraine, we are not blind.’

The clash suggests that Putin’s lie – that he was forced into war with Ukraine over NATO expansion – is not catching on with some citizens.

In Yakutia, Russia’s coldest region, women performed a traditional dance surrounding police in an anti-war protest after thousands of men were arrested.

This comes amid claims that about 30 female protesters were forcibly stripped naked at a police station in Brateevo in a “classic torture technique.”

Mikhail Filatov, 35, turns on the light in a Russian military office in the Volgograd region – he tells police he did it in protest against Putin's mobilization order

Mikhail Filatov, 35, turns on the light in a Russian military office in the Volgograd region – he tells police he did it in protest against Putin's mobilization order

Mikhail Filatov, 35, turns on the light in a Russian military office in the Volgograd region – he tells police he did it in protest against Putin’s mobilization order

Russia's anger over Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine after he ordered enlistments into the military last week

Russia's anger over Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine after he ordered enlistments into the military last week

Russia’s anger over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine after he ordered enlistments into the military last week

The women reported the abuse to human rights defenders before their phones were seized.

A video shows a protesting grandmother being dragged away from her protest near the Kremlin by several heaving armed riot police.

Another shows a man preparing to leave the call after discovering that he has to sleep on the floor.

‘I came to [fight for] our motherland, but I refuse it,’ said the man from Dagestan on a video. “Look what’s going on here. I’m going home.

“No bed, no f***ing thing for us here… Not even a bed.”

There are legitimate fears among men seeking to flee Russia that Putin – 70 next month – will soon order the Soviet-style closure of the borders to prevent all military-aged men from fleeing the call by escaping to countries such as Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Georgia.

In the village of Tyumenevo in the Kemerovo region, reports say that all the local men and men – 59 in all – were mobilized, a blatant abuse of how the system is supposed to work.

When Putin’s alleged partner performed at a sporting event for the first time since June, he was said to be barricaded in his closely guarded northern palace amid the woods in Valdai.

Olympic rhythmic gymnast Kabaeva presented awards at an all-Russian gymnastics competition in the Moscow region in her first public appearance since early June.

She looked visibly stressed and tired, wearing stiletto heels, a black trouser suit and a white polka dot shirt.

Some 260,000 Russian men are believed to have fled the country to neighboring countries rather than face the possibility of being drafted into the military.

Some 260,000 Russian men are believed to have fled the country to neighboring countries rather than face the possibility of being drafted into the military.

Some 260,000 Russian men are believed to have fled the country to neighboring countries rather than face the possibility of being drafted into the military.

Protests have also erupted across Russia in anger over Putin's decision to start conscription, with around 2,000 people arrested

Protests have also erupted across Russia in anger over Putin's decision to start conscription, with around 2,000 people arrested

Protests have also erupted across Russia in anger over Putin’s decision to start conscription, with around 2,000 people arrested

It is widely believed that Kabaeva is the mother of several Putin children whose existence and identity he has not disclosed.

Kabaeva has been sanctioned by the West for her alleged intimate ties to Putin.

The restrained appearance follows extraordinary rumors in Russia that Putin had forced her to have an abortion after an earlier report that she was pregnant with a war baby in May.

The Kremlin has not commented on the speculation.

General SVR Telegram claimed in May that she was pregnant with a girl.

Russian President Vladimir Putin thought Kabaeva’s pregnancy was premature and the birth of another unplanned child undesirable.

As a result, relations between Putin and Kabaeva deteriorated.

And at the end of August, the president urged Alina to have an abortion, despite the fact that the pregnancy was already more than 20 weeks and there were no medical and social indications for abortion.

“After the abortion, complications arose, and for some time Kabaeva could not appear in public.

‘Thousands of women and children are being murdered on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin’ [in Ukraine’, whose fate is indifferent to him.

Russia is now into its eight month of fighting in Ukraine and is thought to have seen around 50,000 of its soldiers killed in battle

Russia is now into its eight month of fighting in Ukraine and is thought to have seen around 50,000 of its soldiers killed in battle

Russia is now into its eight month of fighting in Ukraine and is thought to have seen around 50,000 of its soldiers killed in battle

The ruins of a Russian tank are seen in a vehicle graveyard in Izyum, in recently-recaptured territory in the Kharkiv region

The ruins of a Russian tank are seen in a vehicle graveyard in Izyum, in recently-recaptured territory in the Kharkiv region

The ruins of a Russian tank are seen in a vehicle graveyard in Izyum, in recently-recaptured territory in the Kharkiv region

‘But he also wanted to spit on people close to him, including his common-law wife and children.’

Amid signs of desperation from the authorities, the head of the Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, called for immigrants from ex-Soviet republics to be drafted alongside Russian citizens.

The he’d of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill told believers they would be forgiven for their sins if they died fighting for Putin in Ukraine.

‘Many die today in the field of internecine struggle,’ he said.

‘The church prays that this fight is finished as soon as possible….

‘Simultaneously the church realises if someone….dies during the duty, he certainly acts as a sacrifice.

‘He sacrifices himself for others.

‘And therefore, this sacrifice washes away all the sins that a person has committed.’

Meanwhile, other Russian women act as if there is no war.

Prominent model, socialite and influence Elena Perminova, 36, posted videos of herself in Italy for the Milan Fashion Show despite curbs on Russians travelling to the EU due to sanctions.

She appears not to have a care in the world as her compatriots inflict misery on Ukraine while others seek to halt the horror from worsening with Putin’s mobilisation.

Kremlin wife Tatiana Navka, 47, posted pictures with her fresh make-up while her husband Dmitry Peskov, 54, deputy chief of the Kremlin administration, acts as Putin’s mouthpiece during the war.