On 19 August 2023, President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Southern Military District HQ at Rostov-on-Don, approximately 160km from the front line.

The HQ hosts the staff running the war in Ukraine.

Putin held a meeting with senior officers, including Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov who continues to command the operation in Ukraine.

Wagner Group briefly seized the HQ in June 2023. Putin highly likely wishes to project his authority and to portray the senior military command as functioning as usual.