Ukraine War Escalates As Massive Drone Barrage Hits Russia; NATO Jet Downs Drone Over Romania (Worthy News Focus)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

KYIV/MOSCOW/BUCHAREST/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The Russia-Ukraine war rapidly escalated Sunday as more than 800 Ukrainian drones targeted Russia in Ukraine’s largest such attack this year, killing at least seven people, officials said.

Earlier Russian strikes hit Ukraine, while a NATO military alliance fighter jet shot down a suspected Russian drone over Romania, authorities announced, raising fears of a broader regional conflict.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed 822 Ukrainian drones were destroyed across the country, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said around 600 drones were detected heading toward the Russian capital, with 201 destroyed over the Moscow region.

At least seven people were reported killed in Russia, including five in the southwestern Rostov region. Several others were injured in attacks elsewhere.

A warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries was among the sites hit in the Moscow region as Ukraine stepped up long-range attacks deep inside Russia.

UKRAINE DRONE BARRAGE

The scale of the assault marked a significant intensification of Ukraine’s campaign of long-range strikes, which have increasingly targeted military, industrial and logistical facilities far from the front lines.

The massive Ukrainian drone barrage came as Russia continued its own missile and drone attacks against Ukraine, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 39, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian missile strike on his hometown of Kryvyi Rih killed two people and injured 14 others.

“Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said as emergency crews responded to the latest attacks.

Another person was reported killed in the northeastern city of Sumy, while in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a man and woman were killed when a Russian strike hit their home, officials said.

RUSSIAN STRIKES

Russia has intensified missile attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, while Kyiv has increasingly responded with long-range drone strikes deep inside Russia.

The escalating attacks also spilled into NATO territory Sunday when a Spanish F-18 fighter operating on an alliance air-policing mission shot down a drone that illegally entered Romanian airspace.

Romania’s Defense Ministry said the drone was detected entering the country from neighboring Moldova about 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galați.

The Spanish F-18 established radar contact with the aircraft and received permission to engage before shooting it down at 5:01 a.m. local time, authorities said.

Fragments from the destroyed drone appeared to have fallen in an uninhabited area between two Romanian villages, with no immediate reports of casualties.

NATO DOWNS DRONE

The Romanian interception followed a similar incident Friday, when an Italian Eurofighter operating under NATO command shot down a foreign drone over Latvia. No injuries were reported.

Romanian authorities did not officially identify the origin of Sunday’s drone, but NATO military headquarters spokesperson U.S. Army Colonel Martin O’Donnell said preliminary indications pointed toward Russia.

“Additional details regarding Sunday’s incident remain under investigation, but the drone appears to be Russian,” O’Donnell said.

Romania, a NATO member sharing a 614-kilometer (381-mile) land border with Ukraine, has repeatedly reported breaches of its airspace by Russian drones since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.

In fact, Sunday’s incident marked the fourth unmanned aircraft shot down over Romania this year.

NATO AIRSPACE BREACHES

The previous three were Russian drones shot down by Romanian F-16 fighter jets in July, when Romania intercepted hostile drones in its airspace for the first time after dozens of reported incursions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Earlier in May, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galați during an overnight attack on neighboring Ukraine, injuring two people, according to authorities.

The latest attacks underscored the widening risks of the Russia-Ukraine war as repeated drone incursions increasingly affect NATO airspace.

NATO says it remains ready to defend alliance territory.

Yet the Romanian incident added to concerns that an errant or deliberate strike causing casualties could prompt a stronger international military response, drawing neighboring NATO countries more directly into the conflict.

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