Russian border guards opened fire on a convoy of jeeps leaving the country by an off-road route, wounding one Ukrainian national in the buttock, according to a report by Ukrainian border troops Tuesday, according to DPA. The incident took place a few hundred metres short of Ukraine's northern Kharkiv region after Ukrainian border monitors observed four all-terrain jeeps attempting exit Russian territory by driving a cross-country route. The Ukrainian troopers informed their Russian counterparts, who attempted to block the four automobiles with a border patrol vehicle and ordered the jeeps to stop. Three of the four UAZ jeep drivers ignored the instructions. The Russians opened fire with automatic rifles. One bullet struck one of the jeep passengers in the buttock. A second jeep also was hit in the fusillade, but no one else was injured. The three jeeps successfully entered Ukrainian territory, smashing the Russian patrol vehicle off a dirt path in the process. Ukrainian border police arriving on the scene arrested a total of eight Ukrainian nationals who had been riding in the three vehicles. The injured jeep passenger received treatment at a local clinic and was released. All the apprehended Ukrainians were reportedly residents of villages near the Russian border. At present, they face illegal border crossing charges, an minor offence that likely would prevent their entering Russia in the near future, but otherwise normally resulting only in a small fine.
