28 July 2023 , 13:58
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As many as 15 people have been injured in two explosions that damaged a residential building and left a crater in a central square in the Russian city of Taganrog on Friday.
Windows shattered, and the building was nearly reduced to rubble.
A column of smoke now rises over the city, which is near the Ukrainian border.
Claims of people trapped under the debris have been circulating, but that is yet unconfirmed.
Disturbing videos show passersby running around in a panic, trying to find loved ones or avoid more falling debris.
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Donetsk Newsgroup said witnesses reported seeing a rocket before the explosion.
Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev took to Telegram to write that the explosion happened near a local café and said that it seemed to be a missile. Nobody was killed, he said, but he did confirm the injuries, which he said were "light."
Nine people were allegedly taken to the hospital following the attack.
Elsewhere, Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein said claimed that an explosion rocked a major oil refinery in Russia's Samara region, around 850 miles north of Taganrog.
Preliminary information suggested it was caused by an explosive device, he said, adding that no one was injured and the damage was not thought to be serious.
The Russian Ministry of Defence released a statement calling the Taganrog explosions a "terrorist attack" carried out by the "Kyiv regime."
A car is trapped in the rubble of the exploded building in TaganrogThe missiles were fired from anti-aircraft S-200 defence systems, the statement, which was obtained by Sky News, reads.
"Russian air defense systems detected a Ukrainian missile and intercepted it in the air," it says. "Fragments of a downed Ukrainian missile fell on the territory of Taganrog."
The missiles were therefore not complete bombs, meaning the damage could have been worse.
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It was around 4:30pm local time when the attack occurred.
TASS reported that one person believed to be responsible for the attack has been detained by Russian authorities.
Taganrog has become a hotbed of aggression in the 17-month Russian-Ukraine war.
Russia has called the missile strike an act of terror and blames Ukraine for itBombings and other attacks are frequent in the area due to its proximity to the border, reports the Kyiv Independent.
It may also be a hot spot for the trafficking of Ukrainian children, according to the Kyiv Post.
In June 2022, months after the start of the Russian invasion, over 400 orphans and children whose fathers were fighting in the war were discovered in a sanitarium.
They were allegedly slated to be put up for adoption by Russian parents despite several expressing their desires to return home to Ukraine.
The bombing on Friday is yet another incident in a string of violence in the war — and Taganrog has once again found itself in the middle of the conflict.