by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
KYIV/BUCHAREST/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A Russian ballistic missile strike near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv killed at least 10 people and wounded nearly 100 others Friday, Ukrainian officials said, as neighboring Romania, a member of the NATO military alliance, announced it had shot down a drone that entered its airspace.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attack, saying rescue efforts were continuing.
“A rescue operation is currently underway in the Kyiv region following a Russian missile strike,” Zelensky wrote on social media platform Telegram. “We are still establishing exactly what happened and the fate of all those involved.”
Acting Kyiv Regional Governor Ruslan Oliinyk said preliminary information indicated that a Russian ballistic missile struck a private training ground where representatives of Ukraine’s defense industry had gathered for an event.
Ukraine’s Council of Defense Industry confirmed that representatives of the sector were present but stressed that it had not organized the gathering.
RUSSIA HITS DEFENSE GATHERING
One participant, Valerii Borovyk, head of a Ukrainian drone company, said the missile struck during a defense exhibition, describing scenes of panic as people rushed for cover while emergency crews treated the wounded amid the wreckage.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said authorities had launched a criminal probe into possible negligence in organizing the event, while separately investigating the Russian missile strike as a suspected war crime.
Separately, officials said a Russian airstrike killed five people and injured nine others in the eastern city of Sloviansk, damaging homes, a shop, and the grounds of Latvia’s consulate.
The attacks came as Romania, which shares a 650-kilometer (400-mile) border with Ukraine, announced it had shot down a drone for the first time after it violated Romanian airspace.
ROMANIA DOWNS DRONE
President Nicușor Dan said a Romanian F-16 fighter pilot destroyed the drone at about 11 a.m. local time.
“The area was uninhabited, so the pilot was able to shoot without any risk. Teams are now investigating the incident to establish all the details,” Dan told reporters.
Romania’s Defense Ministry said two Romanian F-16s and two Italian Eurofighter Typhoon jets stationed in Romania were scrambled after radar detected the drone approaching from the direction of the Black Sea. Debris landed in a wheat field, causing no injuries or property damage.
Military officials said the drone appeared to be a Russian-designed Shahed-type unmanned aircraft, though authorities stressed the investigation into its origin was continuing.
REGIONAL TENSIONS GROW
Romania has reported repeated drone incursions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Friday marked the first time its military has shot one down after an airspace violation.
Romania is not alone.
Other members of the NATO military alliance, including Poland, have also reported Russian drones or missiles violating or briefly entering their airspace during the war, prompting fighter jet scrambles and heightened security along the alliance’s eastern flank.
The latest developments underscored growing concerns that the war could increasingly spill beyond Ukraine’s borders, even as Russia and Ukraine continue exchanging long-range missile and drone strikes with no immediate sign of a negotiated end to the armed conflict.
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