Russia strikes southwestern Ukraine... Romania monitors 'airspace violation'

Russian drone attack on southwestern port city Izmail
3 dead, 11 injured
Neighboring Romania monitors airspace violation
Four aircraft including F-16 fighters deployed

Russian drone image. [Photo by TASS Yonhap News]

The Russian military launched a drone attack on Izmail, a port city near the southwestern border of Ukraine, killing three people and injuring eleven. Romania, which shares a border with Ukraine, deployed four fighter jets to monitor its airspace and issued an evacuation order for the southeastern Tulcea region near the affected area.

The Odesa regional authorities in Ukraine announced on the 27th (local time) that three men and women aged between their 60s and 80s died in Izmail in the southwest due to the Russian drone attack, and that houses and vehicles were damaged.

Izmail is a port city located at the lower reaches of the Danube River, bordering Romania, and serves as a grain export route.

In response to the airstrike, Romania dispatched four fighter jets, including two F-16s, to monitor its airspace and issued an evacuation order to residents in the southeastern Tulcea region.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), stated, "Russian drones may have violated our airspace for less than three minutes during their overnight attacks on Ukraine."

Romania shares approximately 650 km of border with Ukraine. Several fragments presumed to be from Russian drones have been found on Romanian territory multiple times.

On the 8th, Russian drones also violated the airspace of Romania and Latvia. Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea coast, is also a NATO member.

Defense ministers of NATO's eastern frontline countries recently demanded a strong joint response from NATO, including the activation of Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) systems, against Russian drone incursions into their airspace.

Authorities in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in southeastern Ukraine reported that a five-story police station building in Kryvyi Rih was hit by a Russian missile attack, injuring at least four people, some of whom were trapped under the building debris. Kryvyi Rih, the second-largest city in Dnipropetrovsk, is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Russian military frequently conducts airstrikes there.