A Russian drone strike killed three people in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Saturday, local officials reported. The drone struck a civilian facility, igniting a large fire and killing drivers for the private Ukrainian postal service Nova Poshta. This incident occurred as neighboring Romania reported downing a drone over its airspace for the second time in two days.
In Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine, a Russian drone attack on Friday night hit a shopping center, causing a fire that burned over 500 square meters and resulted in several injuries, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.
Earlier on Friday, a major Russian attack on a site near Kyiv that hosted a defense industry event killed at least 10 people and wounded nearly 100 others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned late Friday that intelligence indicated Russia was preparing missiles for a large attack on Ukraine, potentially within the next 48 hours.
Romania's defense ministry confirmed Saturday that its forces "safely shot down" a drone that had breached its airspace in an unpopulated area near the Ukrainian border. Romanian President Nicușor Dan stated on Facebook that the drone was "shot down by a Romanian pilot from an F-16 aircraft."
The Saturday interception follows a similar event on Friday when a drone was shot down near Padina, northeast of the Romanian capital, Bucharest. Drone incursions from both Russia and Ukraine have affected Romania and other NATO members since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. In June, a Ukrainian maritime drone being used in the conflict exploded at the Black Sea port of Constanta, with three other sea drones exploding outside the port. No injuries were reported in that incident. A month prior to that, a Russian drone that had been part of an attack on Ukraine veered off course and struck an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people.