Ukrainian soldier kills five at aerospace factory

National guard member on the run after attack with Kalashnikov assault rifle

Ukrainian soldiers walk at the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Katerinivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine. AP

A National Guard member killed five people and wounded five others in an attack at an aerospace factory in the country's east, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

The attacker opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the city of Dnipro and then fled, the ministry said.

“As a result, five people died and another five were injured,” a spokesman said

The ministry wrote on Telegram that the shootings occurred “on the territory of the Yuzhny Machine Building Plant Yuzhmash".

The National Guard member believed to be responsible was a 20-year-old conscript.

The Interfax-Ukraine agency quoted the ministry as saying that a female soldier was among the five killed.

It reported that the attacker was last seen near the Rocket and Space College. He was wearing his camouflage uniform and concealing an AK-47.

National police and security services are on high alert. The site of the shooting was sealed off and civilians directed away from the scene.