According to the Russian media, local residents were frightened by the sounds of shooting and explosions, as the authorities did not warn them about the “planned exercises.”
Explosions were heard in the area of Novorossiysk Bay, after which a fire broke out on the opposite bank. Residents of the city also heard the sounds of automatic weapons firing. This was reported on December 9 by the authors of the ASTRA Telegram channel.
“At about 11:55 we heard explosions, by about 12:20 they stopped, but automatic gunfire started, and now there is something very similar to a fire on the opposite side of the bay. The fire is only getting worse,” a resident of Novorossiysk told ASTRA.
Local media quoted the head of Novorossiysk’s Civil Defense and Emergency Situations Department, Igor Vasiliev, as saying that exercises would allegedly be held near the military base.
However, local publics write that the explosions and shooting frightened the residents of Novorossiysk, as the authorities did not warn the population about any drills.
It is worth noting that the information about the alleged exercises appeared on social media about 10 minutes after residents heard the sounds of explosions. Also, at the time of publication, Ukrainian official sources did not report any military operation in the Novorossiysk area.
“It’s not shooting, it’s some kind of explosion, you can hear it very loudly on the waterfront. Why don’t they warn the people, they always write about the exercises,” Kubanskiye Novosti quoted a resident of Kuban as saying.
