In Rostov-on-Don, near the headquarters of the Southern Military District, which was occupied by the Wagnerites, at least two explosions thundered, The Insider correspondent reports from the scene. The Wagner fighters, who are in the cordon, forbade the locals to approach the headquarters.
Above the headquarters, after the first explosion, the Wagnerites launched a drone with a camera that flies over the territory. According to local residents, the explosions were "the work of opponents of the Wagnerites or provocateurs."
One of the Wagnerites explained to The Insider correspondent what kind of bus was shot Yevgeny Prigozhin was talking about by Deputy Minister of Defense Colonel General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Deputy Head of the GRU Vladimir Alekseev on June 24 in the morning. “We will shoot down all [helicopters] if you send them. Because you are shooting at civilians, you are destroying civilians, you just destroyed a bus full of people, and you had no conscience,” Prigozhin told Yevkurov.
According to the mercenary, at the entrance to Rostov on June 24 in the morning, a Russian Aerospace Forces helicopter opened fire on a bus with members of the Wagner PMC and “was destroyed by return fire,” because there were also civilians in the column where the bus was located.
A representative of PMC Wagner also told The Insider that at the entrance to the city, the military offered almost no resistance to them. "What for? We are not going to fight,” he said.
In the city, according to the correspondent, there are no military equipment or policemen. Wagnerites are concentrated near the headquarters of the Southern Military District. On Budenovsky Prospekt and on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street, on the territory of the military unit, conscripts were lined up on the parade ground. There are a lot of onlookers on the streets, a huge number of people came to the circus and headquarters, many support the Wagner PMC.
“A black Audi stopped near Kirovsky Prospekt, two guys got out of the trunk, took out weapons (visually AK-47) and went along Kirovsky towards the hippodrome,” one of the eyewitnesses said.
Also, people in uniform mine barriers at the entrance to the city.