Romania, a member of the NATO alliance, reported on Saturday, September 30, a possible violation of its airspace during Russian nighttime drone attacks on infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine, reports Radio Free Europe.
Since abandoning an agreement that allows grain to be shipped safely across the Black Sea, Moscow has stepped up strikes on Ukraine's southern regions around Odesa and Mykolaiv, home to key grain export infrastructure.
"Following the discovery of a group of drones heading towards Ukrainian territory not far from the Romanian border", residents in the municipalities of Tulcea and Galac were warned, the Ministry of Defense announced.
"The radar surveillance system... reported a possible unauthorized entry into the national airspace, and the signal detected the direction towards the municipality of Galac," it added.
Ukraine is hosting a conference of the defense industry, as part of the government's efforts to increase the production of weapons in the country, in order to be able to repel the Russian invasion, but also to reduce dependence on the supply of weapons from abroad.
The conference represents a new development in the context of support for Ukraine, as the earlier focus was on the delivery of weapons, repair of damaged equipment and training of Ukrainian soldiers.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at the opening of the Defense Industry Forum, said that around 250 defense companies gathered on Friday, September 29, in Kyiv. Defense ministers and representatives of several countries were also present.
"Heroism cannot intercept missiles alone. Ukraine needs capabilities for such a thing, high quality, large quantity, and fast. There is no defense without industry," said the Secretary General of the NATO alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, who spoke via video link, on after his visit to Kiev.
Ukrainian air forces shot down 30 of 40 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight in an attack on central and southern regions, regional and military officials said.
The Southern Military Command announced that 20 drones were shot down in the central Vinnytsia region and 10 more over Odesa and Nikolaev regions in the south, reports Reuters.
Natalia Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for the Southern Command, told Ukrainian television that Russia continued to attack port infrastructure, including the Danube River, and was also trying to strike critical infrastructure facilities in other Ukrainian regions "to affect the economy."
Russia has intensified airstrikes on Ukraine's grain export infrastructure on the Danube River and in the port of Odessa since July, when Moscow canceled a UN-brokered deal that allowed safe Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea.
Serhij Borzov, the regional governor of Vinica, said that an infrastructural facility was hit in the region, which caused a strong fire. He gave no other details about the damage.
Regional authorities also said three people were injured in the southern Kherson region, which is close to the front lines and frequently comes under artillery shelling.
Russia's defense ministry said on Saturday that its air defenses shot down all nine missiles fired from Ukraine over its western Belgorod region.
Belgorod borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region and has repeatedly come under fire since the start of Russia's special military operation in February 2022, Reuters reports.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had warned of a "terrorist" attack by Ukraine on its facilities by destroying nine missiles of a multiple missile system called "Uragan" (Hurricane) in the air.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said early on Saturday that residents of Moscow-controlled regions of Ukraine expressed their desire to be part of Russia in recent local elections, confirming last year's referendums that Western countries declared illegal, Reuters reports.
In a video address released on the one-year anniversary of Russia's controversial announcement that it was annexing four parts of Ukraine, Putin said the choice to join Russia was reinforced by local elections this month that returned officials who support Russian annexation.
"Just like a year ago at the historic referendums, people once again expressed and confirmed their will to be with Russia and supported their compatriots who, through their efforts and real actions, proved themselves worthy of the people's trust," he said in a recording of just over four minutes released in midnight.
Putin reiterated his view that Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 saved people from nationalist leaders in Kiev who launched a "full-scale civil war" and "terror against those who think differently."
On September 30, 2022, parts of four Ukrainian regions -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye -- were formally incorporated into Russia following a referendum.
Western countries dismissed the results as senseless and illegal annexation, backed by massive voter coercion.
Russian forces do not fully control any region.
Ukrainian forces, aided by Western arms, withstood initial Russian attempts to advance on Kiev and the war shifted to Russian-held areas in the east and south. In June, Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive to retake those areas.
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