The footage from the scene was posted on Twitter by a correspondent from Komsomolskaya Pravda, Alexander Kots.
“There is something incomprehensible in the sky over Rostov. I would suggest (its the shooting of heat traps at some night exercise,” the journalist wrote.
He later clarified that the celestial phenomenon that frightened people was indeed the shooting of heat traps.
Earlier, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the completion of snap combat readiness checks in the southern and western military districts. He also ordered the general staff, the military districts' chiefs and the airborne forces to start returning the troops to the places of their permanent deployment starting Friday, conduct a detailed analysis and sum up the results of the checks.