An explosion was heard near an airport in the Russian city of Taganrog early on Nov. 7, local Telegram channels reported, with some suggesting it was the work of air defense.
Vasily Golubev, the governor of Russia's Rostov region, denied that the "loud sounds that residents of Taganrog and (the nearby town) Azov heard today" were the sounds of the air defense but linked them to Russia's war against Ukraine.
"Please take into account that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation constantly carry out attacks on units of Ukraine's Armed Forces - under the plan for conducting the special military operation. I have already said many times: the military is fulfilling its tasks," Golubev said on Telegram.
Russian officials use the term "special military operation" when referring to Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"Somewhere houses, windows, the ground were shaking…This all happened near the airport. Perhaps the plane landed so loudly, but this is not certain because they don't land so loudly and with smoke," a Tagangrog resident told the Taganrog. Incidents Telegram channel.
The channel published a photo allegedly showing a pillar of smoke rising over the Russian city after the explosion.
None of these claims could be independently verified.
Taganrog is an Azov Sea port city in southwestern Rostov region, Russia, located around 100 kilometers east of Russian-occupied Mariupol in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast. Azov is a nearby town on the Don River.
Oleg Sukhov
(Updated: )
