An exchange of fire between Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the Kharkiv region (north-east) resulted in the death of three of them and the serious wounding of four others, a unit of the armed forces of Ukraine announced yesterday Wednesday.

The military “used weapons” inside their unit due to “personal” differences and the report speaks of “three dead and four others injured”, announced the Horticia division.

The survivors have suffered “serious” injuries and law enforcement is on the scene, according to the same source.

“The management of the unit took all the necessary measures to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future,” always according to the announcement.

The circumstances of the incident are still unclear and the Ukrainian military has not clarified who was responsible or what the motives were. He limited himself to stating that the military used their service weapons for “personal” and not military purposes.

Violence between active-duty military personnel is a delicate issue in Ukraine, however such serious incidents — exchanges of fire — are rare.

In January 2022, four weeks before Russia’s armed forces invaded Ukrainian territory, a 21-year-old Ukrainian national guard recruit killed four soldiers and a civilian with an assault rifle inside an aerospace factory.

In May 2024, a Russian soldier, 57, who had been recruited into a prison, killed six fellow soldiers in the eastern Donetsk region, one of four that Moscow says it has annexed, which Kiev does not recognize, nor most of international community.