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The Russian military said on Friday it had shot down a Ukrainian missile over the southern Russian city of Taganrog and that fragments of the missile had injured civilians and damaged buildings.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine, which rarely comments on attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory.
[...]

The TASS news agency reported that a person believed to have been responsible for the blast had been detained.

Parts of Russia, especially near the border with Ukraine, have often been hit by shelling or drone attacks in the course of the 17-month war. Energy installations and weapons stores have been frequent targets.

The Russian military condemns the incident in Taganrog as a "terrorist attack" on civilians

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that a missile struck the southwest port city of Taganrog on Friday, calling the incident a "terrorist attack" by Ukraine.

The city center was hit by a major blast on Friday, with at least 15 people injured, according to local authorities.

Ukrainian forces used a re-purposed missile from a Soviet-era S-200 anti-aircraft system to target the city, the military said. The missile was "intercepted" by Russian forces, but fragments ended up falling on the city, it added.

"As a result of the terrorist act committed by the Kiev regime, several buildings were damaged, and there are also casualties among civilians," the statement said.

Footage from the scene, circulating online, shows that the missile left a large crater in the ground, with several buildings and vehicles damaged by the blast. The missile contained spherical pieces of shrapnel, a trademark of S-200 anti-aircraft munitions, and one video shows several of the steel balls being found by witnesses at the site.

"At the site of the explosion in Taganrog, a crater of 5 by 5 meters was formed. Now rescuers are clearing the rubble."

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Sam Bankman-Fried must be jailed pending his October fraud trial over the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded because he is trying to intimidate witnesses and influence their testimony, prosecutors said Friday.

Bankman-Fried, a former billionaire, has lived mainly under house arrest at his parents' Palo Alto, California, home since his December 2022 extradition from the Bahamas.His bail, which includes a $250 million bond, became an issue after the New York Times on July 20 published an article containing excerpts from his former romantic partner Caroline Ellison's personal Google documents prior to FTX's collapse.

Bankman-Fried, 31, acknowledged sharing the documents with a Times reporter. The US Attorney's office in Manhattan said that crossed the line, and that Bankman-Fried's efforts to intimidate witnesses amounted to witness tampering.

"The defendant certainly has the right to speak and defend himself to the press," prosecutors said in a letter to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan.

"What the defendant may not do, and what he has now done repeatedly, is seek to corruptly influence witnesses and interfere with a fair trial through attempted public harassment and shaming," prosecutors added.
...

Prosecutors first made their surprise request to detain Bankman-Fried before his Oct. 2 trial at a Wednesday hearing, where Kaplan barred Bankman-Fried from discussing the case.

His lawyer said at Wednesday's hearing that Bankman-Fried's communications with journalists were simply a means to protect his reputation.

Prosecutors had in January accused Bankman-Fried of seeking to influence the testimony of an FTX lawyer.

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