Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the headquarters of the Southern Military District of the Russian Army in Rostov-on-Don. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is coordinated from that city, about 100 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. It is also an important logistics hub.
Putin met Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The army leadership showed the president, among other things, a new military all-terrain vehicle, reports Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Putin was also in Rostov at the end of November. In total, it is the fifth time he has visited the military base since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Rostov was also the place where Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner’s mercenary army, began his mutiny against the Russian army leadership in June. His mercenaries occupied the city and from there started a march towards Moscow. A day later the Wagner column suddenly turned back. In August, Prigozhin died in a plane crash near the Russian city of Tver.
Daan de Vries
