Blasts reported in Rostov, home to Russia’s southern military district command HQBlasts have been reported in the Russian city of Rostov, near the headquarters of the southern military district command, which plays a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was one of the sites seized by late Wagner leader Yevgheny Prigozhin during his aborted mutiny in June.
Regional governor Vasily Golubev said on Telegram that at least three buildings and several cars had been damaged and one person was injured after Russian air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones targeting the city, just 100km east of the border with Ukraine.
Golubev said that the remains of one drone fell outside the city, while the other fell “in the centre, in the area of 42 Pushkinskaya Street”.
Rostov is the largest city in southern Russia and is the capital of the Rostov region that adjoins parts of eastern Ukraine where the war is raging.
It is home to the Russian southern military district command, whose 58th Combined Arms Army is fighting against Kyiv’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) thinktank.
Rostov also houses the command centre for the Russian joint group of forces in Ukraine as a whole and is therefore a critical logistical hub for the Russian army.