July 29, 2023: yesterday the residential area in downtown Taganrog got damaged as Ukraine launched an S-200 surface-to-air missile converted to a strike missile. The Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation says that, although local air defense system intercepted the missile, its fragments fell on the city, causing an explosion.

The blast left a crater more than a meter deep and damaged several buildings. Among them are the cafe "Chekhov Sad" and the Taganrog Museum of Art. As for the museum, one of the walls and the roof were destroyed, and some outbuildings were harmed. Moreover, the explosion broke down window and balcony frames in the nearby buildings.

Authorities has reported on 22 injured (9 of them were taken to the hospital), no fatalities occurred.

The Russian Investigative Committee launched a criminal investigation under Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Act of Terrorism").

In response to the attack, Taganrog City Manager Andrey Fateev signed a regulation on introducing a state of emergency in the city of Taganrog. The recovery works started immediately on the same day.

It is not the first time that missiles endanger the security of Taganrog. On March 1, 2022, a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile was shot down on the territory of Taganrog military airfield by Russian air defense system.