CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) – Moldovan authorities said Saturday that the remains of a missile “originating from Russian air strikes on Ukraine” were found by border officials. in a northern village near the country’s border with war-torn Ukraine.
The Ministry of the Interior of Moldova said in a statement that the remains from the rockets were discovered in the village of Larga in Biceni County and a bomb squad was stationed in the closed area.
The ministry did not say when the missile was launched or who launched it. Photos of the debris posted on the ministry’s Facebook page show what appears to be a tangle of electrical wires and part of a missile casing in the middle of a field.
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita reacted to the incident on Saturday by condemning Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine and expressing her “outrage at the disregard for Moldovan sovereignty” after that “its airspace was violated again today”.
“There is no political, historical and even more moral justification for killing civilians and attacking the infrastructure that supports the survival of a population,” she said.
It is the third such incident that has raised alarm in Moldova, which is neither a member of the European Union nor of NATO. In late October, a Russian missile landed in the border town of Naslavcea, and last month missile debris was found in gardens in another town near the border with Ukraine.
The Ministry of the Interior of Moldova added in its statement that it has increased the border patrol in response to the conflict in neighboring Ukraine.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
The Associated Press
