All victims of Crimea shooting rampage identified:
By RFE/RL
All the victims of a shooting rampage at a technical college in Ukraine's Moscow-annexed Crimea region have been identified, with some of the critically wounded being airlifted to hospitals in Russia, authorities say.
Twenty people were killed, including the suspected shooter, and scores were wounded in the October 17 shooting spree at a technical college in Kerch.
Russian investigators identified the suspected killer, who they say also shot himself dead, as Vladislav Roslyakov, an 18-year-old student at a technical college in the Crimean city.
Kerch's deputy mayor, Dilyaver Melgaziyev, said on October 18 that all the victims had been identified, adding that 15 of them were students, and six of them were younger than 18, while the other five victims were college employees.
Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said earlier that a total of 70 people were wounded in the attack, and 10 of them were in a critical condition, including five who were in a coma.
Skvortsova told Russian news agencies on October 18 that the authorities were preparing to airlift at least 10 severely wounded people to top Russian hospitals for surgery. Dozens more remain hospitalized in Kerch.
The Russia-imposed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, told Russian news agencies that the first victim will be buried later on October 18.
Authorities and eyewitnesses say a teenager walked calmly through the Kerch polytechnic school shooting people seemingly indiscriminately with a shotgun before committing suicide.
Aksyonov described Roslyakov, a fourth-year student, as a shy boy who had no known friends and a good record in school.
"What he published on his [social media] account was not open to the public. Access to his account was restricted; he didn't have any friends," Aksyonov told Rossia-24 television.
"He wasn't aggressive, he was rather timid," Aksyonov said, speculating that Roslyakov might have "watched some movies" that inspired him to go on the shooting spree.
"He was walking around and shooting students and teachers in cold blood," Aksyonov said.
The announcement that the shooter was a student who acted alone came after hours of shifting explanations as to what happened at the school, with investigators initially saying it might have been a terrorist attack.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the authorities declared an emergency in Crimea and Russia sent National Guard troops to protect schools and a new 19-kilometer bridge connecting Crimea with Russia.
The attack was the greatest loss of life in school violence in Russia since the Beslan attack by Chechen separatists in September 2004, in which 333 people, many of them children, were killed during a three-day siege.
While such school shootings are rare in Ukraine and Russia, which illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, AP reported that the bloodbath raised questions about school security, as the Kerch school had only a front desk with no security guards.
Some witnesses said more than one person was involved, with one saying a bomb with shrapnel that went off in the school lunchroom during the siege was set off by a second attacker.
But Aksyonov said Roslyakov made the bomb himself and set it off while using a shotgun he recently acquired and 150 cartridges he bought just a few days ago to conduct his deadly shooting spree.
Aksyonov said Roslyakov had recently received a permit to own the shotgun after passing routine background checks. (w/AP, TASS, Interfax, Rossia-24, Christopher Miller in Kyiv, RFE/RL's Russian Service, the Crimean desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, RIA Novosti, Mediazona, Dozhd, and Reuters)
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Wednesday, October 17, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.
'Мany Corpses Of Children': Witnesses Recount Horror Of Crimean School Shooting
By Mike Eckel
In one call, a girl can be heard, panicked and sobbing.
There was an explosion, she said, “then he was shooting. We started running and jumping over the fence and tore my arm. You understand, shots were fired. We were running and the kids were just lying there.
“I can’t understand,” she continued. “My friend was killed right before my eyes. I saw how she fell and stopped moving. I saw how the guys were falling and blood spattering. All of this right before my eyes.”
The call was one of several published on October 17 by the Telegram channel Mash in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a college in the Crimean town of Kerch. At least 18 students and faculty were killed, and dozens more wounded from gunshot wounds, as well as an explosion.
Cell-phone video and footage shown on local TV showed a chaotic scene at the polytechnic college as students ran from the building where the shooting occurred.
In one cell-phone clip published on Twitter, shots can be heard as students try to escape:
Another appears to show bodies in a stairwell as students flee:
Russia’s Investigative Committee identified the shooter as an 18-year-old fourth-year student named Vladislav Roslyakov. The committee also said the incident had been tentatively classified as murder rather than terrorism, as was initially suspected.
Pentagon Confirms Death Of U.S. Airman In Ukrainian Fighter Jet Crash
By RFE/RL
The U.S. military has confirmed that a California-based airman was killed in the crash of a two-seat Ukrainian fighter jet during a joint exercise with NATO air forces in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian aviator was also killed in the October 17 crash of the Sukhoi Su-27 plane in the Khmelnytskyy region, some 180 kilometers southwest of Kyiv, the Ukrainian and U.S. militaries said.
"This is a sad day for the United States and Ukraine," said Major General Clay Garrison, director of the Exercise Clear Sky 2018 maneuvers.
Military authorities said the bodies of the two airmen had been recovered.
The identity of the American was being withheld for 24 hours to allow for the notification of family.
Kyiv identified the Ukrainian pilot killed as Colonel Ivan Petrenko.
The U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa said the American airman was taking part in a single-aircraft familiarization flight with a Ukrainian counterpart when the accident occurred.
No other aircraft were involved, and an investigation is being conducted by both militaries to determine the cause of the accident, it said in a statement.
Earlier, the U.S. Air Force said it was aware of "reports claiming a U.S. casualty," but it did not confirm the death.
The Ukrainian military said participants in the Clear Sky maneuvers held a ceremony at a nearby airfield to commemorate the airmen killed in the incident.
Some 950 personnel from Ukraine, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Britain, and the United States are participating in the exercise.
Russia Detains Crimean Deputy Prime Minister On Bribery Charges
By RFE/RL
Authorities in Moscow have detained a deputy prime minister of Crimea’s Russia-imposed government, Vitaly Nakhlupin, for alleged bribe-taking.
Igor Mikhailichenko, Crimea's deputy prime minister, said in a statement on October 17 that he had informed the peninsula’s prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, about the detainment.
Mikhailichenko said the details of the case cannot be disclosed as an investigation is under way.
Aksyonov said in a statement on Facebook that Nakhlupin’s detention was linked to investigations against unspecified regional officials and state "structures."
Nakhlupin, 52, has served as Crimea's deputy prime minister since January 2016.
He previously led the Crimean parliament's committee for economic, financial, and tax policies.
Nakhlupin is not the first deputy prime minister to be detained after Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Kazurin was arrested in January 2017 and later sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison on bribery charges.
Ukraine says it is strengthening security along the administrative border with Crimea.