Moscow reserves the right to take tough measures in response to a missile attack that wounded more than a dozen people in the Russian border region of Rostov on Friday, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
The official, Maria Zakharova, said the strike on the southwestern Russian city of Taganrog was “directed against the civilian population and peaceful infrastructure. They obviously had no military meaning.”
Zakharova called on the international community to condemn the attack. “The Russian side reserves the right to take tough retaliatory measures,” she said.
Russia has frequently hit Ukrainian civilian targets throughout the conflict.
What we know about the strike: Earlier on Friday, air defenses shot down a missile over Taganrog. The missile’s remnants fell on the center of the city, leaving 14 people wounded, according to the Russian defense ministry.
The ministry says air defense systems also intercepted a second missile in the Rostov region Friday, but that it “fell in a deserted area.” Rostov’s governor confirmed the second attack.
Friday’s strike on Taganrog is believed to be the first time the city – some 40 kilometers (nearly 25 miles) from the border with Ukraine — has been hit since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine has not commented on the attack, which if conformed would mark a rare case of Kyiv using missiles inside Russia.
