Turkey issued a fresh warning to Ukraine and Russia after a Turkish-owned cargo vessel was hit by drones on Thursday night, causing a fire and injuring crew members.
Ukraine said on Thursday that Russian drones attacked three foreign-flagged merchant vessels, one of them on the Turkish-owned, Vanuatu-flagged, cargo vessel, as they sailed along Ukraine’s maritime export corridor in the Black Sea.
In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry said Ankara reiterates a warning to all parties to refrain from taking steps that could lead to an uncontrolled escalation of war, without mentioning who carried out the attack to the Turkish-owned vessel.
It came hours after drones struck Ukraine’s Izmail port area in the southern Odesa region overnight, local authorities said on the Telegram messaging app.
One of the drones was stuck in the power lines, temporary cutting off electricity to five villages, the post said.
Izmail, close to the Romanian border, is home to the largest Ukrainian port on the Danube River and is a frequently targeted strategic location.
Meanwhile, Romania said on Friday that a drone injured two people in a southeastern city during an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the first time in the war that a drone had hit a densely populated area in Romania and caused injuries.
The incident in Romania, also a member of the European Union, was likely to increase tensions on NATO’s eastern flank at a time when Ukraine’s allies are worried about Russia’s war on its neighbour spilling over its borders.
The drone hit the roof of a 10-storey block of flats in Galati and caused an explosion, the authorities said.
Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, has experienced Russian drones breaching its airspace 28 times since Moscow began attacking Kyiv’s ports across the Danube river, Romania’s defence ministry said.
The Romanian defence ministry said two F-16 fighter jets had been scrambled and a military helicopter was sent to monitor the attack, with the pilots authorised to shoot down any drones without endangering inhabited areas. The residents of border counties Braila, Galati and Tulcea were warned to take cover.
The drone was in Romania’s airspace for four minutes and flew at a low altitude for 10 km (6.2 miles), making it difficult for radar to detect, Romanian Brigadier General Gheorghe Maxim said.
He told a press conference that although the U.S. anti-drone system Merops is operational in Romania it is not yet fully integrated with national air defences and it would have been too risky to use in a city.
In addition to the woman and her child who were taken to hospital with minor injuries, two people were treated on the scene for panic attacks and 70 were evacuated from the apartment block, local authorities said.
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