51�Թ�

However, at the time the cities of Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were "being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks", Putin said.

At the time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian drones and Russian air defense systems had repelled those attacks, Putin said according to the Kremlin's statement.

According to local officials, a drone was shot down by air defence above a shopping mall in Vladikavkaz, in nearby North Ossetia, that morning.

"Ukrainian combat drones were launching terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz," said Dmitry Yadrov, head of Rosaviatsia, in a video statement posted on Russia's Tass news agency.

Dvornikov’s dismissal may been linked to the destruction of the 58th Combined Arms Army, normally stationed in the southern Vladikavkaz, which was lauded as one the most combat-ready Russian armies and key to the invasion of Georgia in 2008, BBC’s Russian service reported.