A huge kamikaze drone explosion hit close to Vladimir Putin’s war command headquarters in Rostov-on-Don in the early hours of the morning.
Shocking footage shows a giant fireball rising up over the city, which lies near Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The explosion whipped up a savage blaze in the vicinity of the military HQ, which Putin is reported to have visited several times throughout the war.
Three buildings and several cars were damaged according to an initial assessment by Rostov region governor Vasily Golubev.
The war command bunker is at the HQ of Russia’s Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don.
It was here in June that slain Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin began his attempted coup against Putin’s regime, later staging a march towards Moscow.
Residents expressed shock at the attack and 20 blocks of flats on Pushkinskaya Street were left without electricity.
A state of emergency was declared in the centre of the city due to the kamikaze drone strike.
Reports said 99 residents were given hot food and offered to leave their homes.
As has become routine, Russian officials claimed a drone targeting in the city centre had been shot down, but it was unclear whether the drone managed to evade air defences.
Another drone came down outside the city.
‘At about 3am an air defence system went off in Rostov-on-Don,’ said Golubev.
‘An unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down. The consequences on the ground are being clarified.’
Later he said: ‘At the site of the UAV crash… an emergency mode was introduced from 9am. 99 people live in these three blocks. Meals will be organised for them.’
Putin used the war command post in Rostov as a backdrop for his New Year message to Russians in 2023, posing with troops.
Some seven kamikaze drones in total attacked Russian targets during the night.
One – allegedly a Ukrainian Beaver drone capable of flying up to 620 miles – hit Ramenskoye near Moscow, close to Zhukovsky international airport.
The Russian authorities claimed they had shot it down, causing damage to a high rise residential building.
The attack triggered the closure of air space in Moscow, causing major flight disruption at the city’s four international airports.
The capital’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin said: ‘Tonight in the Ramenskoye urban district, air defence forces thwarted an attempted drone attack on Moscow.’
The railway station in Bryansk – capital of a region bordering Ukraine – was also damaged by a drone attack.
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