Governor of key Russian region hit by Ukraine drones resigns

President Vladimir Putin accepted the sudden resignation on Monday of one of Russia's longest serving governors who headed the Rostov region that has been plagued by Ukrainian drones and where the Wagner Group forces started a short-lived mutiny.

The Rostov region, about 1,000 kms (622 miles) south of Moscow, borders Ukraine. Kyiv, which has launched a series of drone attacks on oil depots there, says Rostov is key in storing petroleum products for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.

Putin accepted the resignation of Rostov's governor Vasily Golubev "at his own request", the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.

Golubev, who was in charge of the region since 2010, making him one of the three longest serving Russian governors at present, said in a post on his Telegram messaging app that he decided to resign "due to a transfer to another job".

He did not provide further detail. The TASS state news agency reported that Golubev's press service denied Russian Telegram reports that security services searched Golubev's office after the resignation.

Putin immediately appointed Yuri Slyusar, a 50-year-old native of Rostov, as interim governor and instructed him in a meeting to "delve" into the region's vital issues.

Slyusar has been the chief executive officer of Russia's state aerospace and defence firm, the United Aircraft Corporation.

The Rostov region, with more than 4.2 million residents, is also a key agricultural area, which contributed about a tenth of Russia's total grain harvest last year.

In August, Ukraine's drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in the region's Kamensky district that took weeks to be extinguished.

In June of 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, took control of Rostov-on-Don, the administrative centre of the Rostov region, in a short-lived mutiny, starting a march towards Moscow and then turning back.