Rocket debris found again in Moldova, from war next door

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovan authorities said Saturday that the remains of a rocket “originating from Russia’s air attacks on Ukraine” was found by border officials in a northern village near the country’s border with war-torn Ukraine.

Moldova’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the rocket debris was discovered in the village of Larga, in Briceni county, and that a bomb squad was deployed to the area, which was cordoned off.

The ministry didn’t specify when the rocket was fired or who fired it. Photographs of the debris posted on the ministry’s Facebook page show what appears to be a jumble of electrical wires and some of the rocket’s casing in the middle of a field.

Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita reacted on Saturday to the incident by condemning Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine, and expressed her “indignation for the disrespect of the sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova” after its “airspace was overrun again today.”

“There is no political, historical and even more, moral justification for killing civilians and attacking the infrastructure that ensures the survival of a population,” she said.

It is the third such incident to have raised alarm in Moldova, which isn’t a member of the European Union or NATO. In late October, a Russian missile landed in the border town of Naslavcea, and last month missile debris was found in an orchard in another town close to the border with Ukraine.

Moldova’s Interior Ministry added in its statement that it has bolstered border patrols in response to the conflict in neighboring Ukraine.

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