Russian drone strike on Ukrainian-Moldovan border crossing kills two, wounds three

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that the attack damaged the crossing’s infrastructure and destroyed a passenger bus along with several other vehicles. A large fire broke out at the site following the strike.

Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper said the drone strike killed two people and wounded three others. The victims were residents living near the checkpoint.

Emergency personnel evacuated 16 people to safety.

The State Border Guard Service announced that transit through the checkpoint has been temporarily suspended.

Ukrainian officials also notified Moldovan authorities about the incident.

This is not the first time Russian forces have targeted checkpoints along the Moldovan border.

Russian strikes on Moldovan border checkpoints

Russian forces launched a large-scale air barrage against Ukraine on August 20, striking, among other targets, a border checkpoint to Moldova near the village of Kotlovyna in Odesa Oblast. During the overnight attack, a Shahed-136 drone briefly crossed into Moldovan airspace before returning to Ukraine, according to the Moldovan Ministry of Defense.

Russian Shahed drones struck the Tabaky border crossing with Moldova overnight on August 21, forcing authorities to temporarily close the crossing to all traffic.

Russian forces also struck the Vynohradivka-Vulcanesti checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border overnight on August 25.