Two NATO members said Sunday that Russian drones had violated their airspace, with one flying over Romania during the war. Night attacks on neighboring Ukraine while another crashed in eastern Latvia the day before.
A drone entered Romanian territory early Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” on the Danube River in Ukraine, Romania’s National Defense Ministry reported. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 fighter jets to monitor its airspace and issued text message alerts to residents in two eastern regions.
Investigations are underway into a possible “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. No casualties or damage have been reported immediately.
Later Sunday, Latvian Defense Minister Andris Sprūds said a Russian drone had crashed near the town of Rezekne the day before and had likely strayed into Latvia from neighboring Belarus.
Rezekne, home to more than 25,000 people, lies about 55 kilometers west of Russia and about 75 kilometers from Belarus, the Kremlin’s close and dependent ally.
Although the incursion into Latvian airspace appears to be a rare incident, Romania has confirmed the presence of drone fragments over its territory on several occasions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and as recently as July this year.
Mircea Geoană, NATO’s outgoing deputy secretary general and former Romanian foreign minister, said Sunday morning that the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace. “Although we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against allies, these actions are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
The Latvian military also said Sunday that there was no indication that Moscow or Minsk deliberately sent a drone into the country. In a public statement, the military said it had identified the crash site and that an investigation was underway.
Latvian Defense Minister Sprūds sought to downplay the significance of the drone incursion.
“I can confirm that there are no casualties here and no property has been violated in any way,” Defence Minister Andris Sprūds told Latvian radio on Sunday, adding that all risks related to the incident had been immediately eliminated: “Of course, this is a serious incident, because it reminds us once again what kind of neighbouring countries we are dealing with.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the raids “a reminder that the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation extend beyond the borders of Ukraine.”
“The collective response of the Allies should be maximum support for Ukraine now, to end (Russian aggression), protect lives and preserve peace in Europe,” Sybiha said in a message on X.
Civilians killed in Ukraine
In Ukraine, two civilians were killed and four others wounded in an overnight Russian airstrike on the northern city of Sumy, the regional military administration said. Two children were among the wounded, the administration said. The Russian Defense Ministry said later Sunday that its forces had struck pro-Kiev foreign fighters in a village on the northern outskirts of Sumy. It was not immediately clear whether it was the same attack.
The Ukrainian General Staff also reported Sunday that Russian troops continued shelling Sumy and surrounding areas and had dropped at least 16 devastating “flying bombs” on the province by mid-afternoon. Russian forces shelled the city again on Sunday, injuring a teenager and a civilian, the regional prosecutor’s office reported.
Three more women were killed Sunday after Russian forces shelled a village in the eastern Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported on the Telegram messaging app. Separately, Russian shelling killed a woman on the outskirts of Kharkiv, the second city in northeastern Ukraine, local authorities said.
The death toll rose to 58 after a Russian missile strike on Tuesday destroyed a military academy and a hospital near the eastern city of Poltava, regional governor Filip Pronin said. More than 320 others were injured.
Evgeny Maloletka / AP
Since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the Russian military has repeatedly used missiles to crush civilian targets, sometimes killing dozens of people in a single attack.
Russian forces continued their month-long advance towards the town of Pokrovsk and also stepped up attacks near the town of Kurakhove further south, the Ukrainian General Staff reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced Sunday that its troops had captured Novohrodivka, a small town about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Pokrovsk. An update published Saturday night by DeepState, a Ukrainian battlefield analysis site, said Russian forces had “advanced” on Novohrodivka and captured Nevelske, a village southeast of Pokrovsk District.
Pokrovsk, which had a population of about 60,000 before the war, is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics center in the Donetsk region. Its capture would undermine Ukraine’s defense and supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated goal of seizing the entire Donetsk region.
Berlin raises possibility of peace talks with Russia
Also on Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed that Moscow should be included in a future peace conference aimed at ending its invasion of Ukraine.
“There will definitely be a new peace conference, and the president (Zelenskyy) and I agree that it will take place with the presence of Russia,” Scholz told German public television ZDF.
A previous peace conference, held on June 15-16 in Switzerland, concluded with an agreement between 78 countries in favor of Ukraine’s “territorial integrity,” but the way forward was unclear. Russia did not participate.
Ukrainian President Zelensky did not immediately comment on Scholz’s remarks, but said in a video address Sunday that he had held “important negotiations” with the German president and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He did not elaborate.
