UN stresses the need for de-escalation in Ukraine war as attacks rise

Key points

• Romania requested the urgent meeting after a Russian drone entered its airspace on Friday night, hitting an apartment building in the eastern city of Galaţi.
• Two residents – a woman and a child – were injured.
• “Last Friday, a dangerous incident crystallized our oft-stated warnings about potential spillover of the war,” said Kayoko Gotoh, a Director in the UN political and peace departments.
• She noted that although this was not the first reported breach of Romanian airspace by an armed drone since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the first time such an incident resulted in casualties.
• ‘A worrying trend’ It also “came on the heels of a worrying trend of drone incursions into the airspaces and territorial waters of countries bordering either Ukraine or the Russian Federation,” she added.