A wave of Russian airstrikes across multiple Ukrainian regions killed at least 10 people and injured dozens over a single weekend, with residential buildings, petrol stations, a grocery store and energy facilities among the targets. For anyone following the region — or wondering about travel anywhere near the conflict — the weekend showed how far the war's reach now extends, including into neighbouring Moldova's airspace.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched nearly 500 drones against Ukrainian targets from Saturday morning alone, writing on Telegram that Moscow had widened the war from the front line into the economy, aiming to destroy every site that helps people cope with wartime conditions. Civilian casualties have risen sharply over the past two months as Russian forces step up attacks on power plants and other infrastructure.
The human cost was stark and specific. In Kramatorsk, one of the frontline "fortress cities" Russia wants to capture, the city council said three people died and four were hurt when private civilian cars were struck in three incidents within 90 minutes. In Zvyahel, west of Kyiv in the Zhytomyr region, a strike on a grocery store killed two, and two petrol stations were also hit. Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy's hometown, came under attack overnight, leaving four dead between them. In the Black Sea port of Odesa, nearly 40 people were injured in assaults stretching from overnight into Saturday evening.
Both sides also kept hitting each other's economies. Russia's defence ministry claimed strikes on Ukrainian ports, including a cargo ship in Odesa and two vessels in Chornomorsk, plus industrial sites such as the Zaporizhstal steelworks and an Interpipe Steel complex in Dnipro. Ukraine's military said it struck one of Russia's largest synthetic rubber producers, the Togliattikauchuk plant in the Samara region, which it says makes fuel additives used in Russian missiles.
The spillover into Moldova is notable for travellers watching the wider region. Authorities there closed national airspace for nearly an hour after a drone was detected near the border, and seven border crossings were shut temporarily. Russian drones have entered Moldovan airspace repeatedly despite official protests; in one incident that week, the departure of Zelenskyy's aircraft to Norway was delayed.
Why does this matter on a travel site? Ukraine remains under active armed conflict with no realistic prospect of leisure travel, and its airspace is closed to civil aviation. More relevantly for holidaymakers, the recurring incursions into Moldovan and nearby NATO-member airspace — Romania and Poland have both scrambled jets in recent months — are a reminder to check government travel advisories and airline routing if booking anywhere in Eastern Europe. Ukraine-bound trips are effectively limited to humanitarian, journalistic or essential purposes, and even then require extensive security planning. Anyone with family or business ties to the country should follow Ukrainian government guidance on air raid alerts and shelter protocols, as Saturday's casualties show attacks are landing well beyond the front line, in cities like Zvyahel and Odesa.
Reuters could not independently verify accounts from either side.