Fresh waves of reciprocal long-range drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine have left multiple people dead, including casualties on Moldovan territory, just days after high-level diplomatic efforts led by U.S. envoys to de-escalate the 2022 full-scale invasion.
In an overnight assault targeting a key border crossing between southern Ukraine and Moldova, Russian drones killed two people and wounded three others—one of whom was a Moldovan national, confirmed by Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper. The crossing at Starokozache, located approximately 310 miles south of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, has been fully shut down following the strike. Photographic footage from the attack site shows destroyed, burnt-out civilian vehicles scattered across the checkpoint, with charred debris littering the facility.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued renewed calls for accelerated international military and political support in the aftermath of the attack. “The aggression must be stopped here and now before it spreads any further,” Zelensky said, warning of widening spillover risks for neighboring countries.
Moldova, a small neutral state bordering both Ukraine and Romania, has seen a sharp rise in stray and intentional Russian drone strikes on its territory in recent months, drawing sharp condemnation from Moldovan leadership. Vasile Tofan, Moldova’s prime minister, confirmed that August alone saw 17 Russian drones impact Moldovan soil—more than the total number recorded across all of 2025. “Those who ignore or downplay these threats, and refuse to name the aggressor, are denying reality,” Tofan wrote in a social media post. “Russia started this war. Russia alone bears responsibility.”
Hours after the Ukrainian border crossing attack, Russian officials reported a separate Ukrainian drone strike on the southern Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk. Regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev called the assault a “massive overnight enemy drone attack” that left four people dead, including one child, and injured 29 more. The strike damaged multiple residential structures, a local Orthodox church, and a preschool facility, according to local authorities.
Russia’s defense ministry added that its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 596 Ukrainian drones launched across multiple frontline and rear areas overnight.
The tit-for-tat strikes come just 24 hours after a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump focused on negotiating an end to the full-scale war. The Trump administration has pushed aggressively for direct peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, with Ukrainian officials indicating they are prepared to hold talks as early as September 2026. The Kremlin has so far refused to confirm a timeline or location for any formal meeting.
The leaders’ call followed in-person talks in Moscow between Putin and U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, after which the pair traveled to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky to hammer out preliminary frameworks for potential negotiations. Despite these diplomatic overtures, both sides have continued to ramp up long-range strike operations targeting infrastructure and border areas across the conflict zone, pushing aside hopes of an immediate ceasefire.