Two Russian cruise missiles entered Moldova's airspace from Ukraine on Wednesday morning, as Russian strikes across Ukraine killed nine people and injured 39 others.
Moldovan authorities confirmed that two Russian Banderol (S8000) cruise missiles crossed into the country's airspace from neighbouring Ukraine. The first missile entered at 6.04am from the direction of Iaski in Ukraine, heading towards the village of Tudora in the Ștefan Vodă district, according to Moldova's Ministry of Defence. It left Moldovan airspace five minutes later at 6.09am, heading towards Starocazacie in Ukraine's Odesa region.
A second missile crossed the border at 6.06am from the direction of Lîmanske in Ukraine, heading towards Pervomaisc in Moldova's Transnistrian region. It remained in Moldovan airspace for four minutes before crossing back into Ukraine at 6.10am towards Razdelna.
Overnight assault on Ukraine
The airspace violations came amid an overnight Russian assault on Ukraine, with strikes hitting multiple regions and leaving residents without electricity across eight regions, according to Ukraine's Energy Ministry. Ukraine's Air Force said Russian forces launched a Kh-59/69 guided missile from the Black Sea alongside 163 long-range attack drones, including 91 jet-powered drones, as well as other missiles and decoys.
By 8am local time, Ukrainian air defences had intercepted 130 drones, including 72 jet-powered drones, and 14 Banderol/Dan-T cruise missiles. The Energy Ministry said the affected areas included Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Odesa.
Casualties across regions
In Dnipropetrovsk, three people were killed and five others injured in Russian attacks on Tuesday, according to regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha. Two more people were killed and five injured in Donetsk, while strikes on Kherson and surrounding settlements left one dead and three wounded.
In Odesa, one person was killed and another injured while waiting at a bus stop on Tuesday evening, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper. Russian strikes in Sumy injured five people, including a 14-year-old girl, after more than 50 attacks were reported across 20 settlements. In Zaporizhzhia, regional authorities reported 1,107 Russian strikes across 54 settlements, leaving one person dead and 15 injured.
Drone attack on Russian port
Ukraine launched a drone attack on one of Russia's key oil-exporting ports, sparking a huge fire visible from neighbouring NATO member Estonia. Explosions rocked the port of Ust-Luga in Russia's north-western Leningrad region overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday, with the blaze visible from the Estonian border around 15 miles away.
Regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said three workers were injured in the attack and a power station was knocked offline. He also claimed that Russian air defences had shot down 150 drones over the Leningrad region, which is home to St Petersburg. The attack caused major flight disruption in St Petersburg, while authorities in Finland temporarily restricted airspace over the eastern Gulf of Finland.
Peace talks continue
Details of the attack emerged as Russian and Ukrainian officials hold talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the war. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Tuesday's discussions as "very productive", while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said they were "constructive and quite substantive".
Zelenskyy accused Russian officials at the talks of making false claims about territory controlled by Moscow's forces in eastern Ukraine. He said Russian military and intelligence officials had claimed to control around 1,000 square miles of territory in Donetsk that remained under Ukrainian control. "That's the problem. Putin lives in a different reality," Zelenskyy said.
