The president of Moldova, Ukraine's western neighbour, denounced a new wave of Russian attacks on Ukrainian targets on Saturday after missile debris was found just inside the small former Soviet state's border.
"Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine directly impacts Moldova again. Moldovan border police found rocket fragments near Larga village in northern Moldova," President Maia Sandu tweeted.
"We strongly condemn today’s intensified attacks of Russia and stand with those who lost loved ones in Dnipro across Ukraine. Peace must prevail."
At least 12 people died when a missile hit an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Moldova's interior ministry earlier said missile debris had been found in the north of the country.
Russia did not immediately comment on the report.
Similar incidents in Moldova, which borders Ukraine, have occurred twice before, including in December when police found fragments of a missile that came down in a region of northern Moldova near the border with Ukraine.
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita decried the violation of Moldovan airspace and said in a statement: "There is no political, historical or moral justification for the killing of peaceful residents and attacks on infrastructure."
The pro-Western Sandu was elected in 2020 and her government has since received considerable financial support from the European Union. This week the delivery of German armoured vehicles for the country's armed forces was announced.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas; Editing by David Holmes, Ron Popeski and Jonathan Oatis)
