VLADIKAVKAZ, December 25. /TASS/. The falling debris of a drone downed by air defenses caused the explosion and fire at a shopping mall in Vladikavkaz on Wednesday morning, the head of North Ossetia, Sergey Menyailo, wrote on his Telegram channel.

"According to the [Russian] Defense Ministry, the blast and fire at a shopping mall in downtown Vladikavkaz was caused by the falling debris of a downed UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle - TASS). The fixed-wing drone was downed by air defenses at 8:28 a.m. (5:28 a.m. GMT) today," the official said in a statement.

Preliminary results of an investigation confirm this version, too, Menyailo added. According to him, CCTV cameras show the blast occurred outside the shopping center, and bomb experts are looking for fragments of a fallen drone.