Russia just hit Moldova and a border guard is hurt

Moldova isn't in this war. It isn't in NATO either. It's officially neutral, sitting right next to Ukraine and EU member Romania, and right now it's trying to join the EU itself.

But its border with Ukraine keeps getting hit by things that were never meant for it.

So here's what makes this one different. It's the first time someone on Moldovan soil has actually been hurt this way.

And it's not the first thing to land there. Two days before this, debris from three missiles and two drones came down across four Moldovan districts, after a Russian attack on Odesa. Moldova's Defence Ministry logged six unauthorised airspace incursions that same day. A few days before that, a Russian drone crashed and blew up near the village of Girbovets. Nobody was hurt that time. Moldova already summoned Russia's ambassador over the falling debris.

Now, the checkpoint that got hit this time isn't some quiet crossing. Palanca is the busiest one Moldova has with Ukraine's Odesa region. People use it every single day to get in or out of the war.

A border guard isn't quite the same as an ordinary civilian. And this isn't even the first injury near this war's edges. A month ago, a Russian strike on the Starokozache crossing, on Ukraine's border with Romania, killed two civilians and wounded three. That's according to Oleh Kiper, who runs the Odesa Regional Military Administration.

So what's different this time? This one happened on Moldovan ground. Not Ukrainian.

Moldova's Border Police say the projectile came down because of Russia's strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure that day. So a stray hit, not a strike aimed at Moldova. Nothing so far says Moldova was targeted on purpose.

But look at the pattern. Debris in one month. A drone a few weeks later. Now a projectile that actually reached a bus and a border guard.

Each one has landed closer to actually hurting someone.

Russia hasn't commented on this. It hasn't commented on any of the ones before it either. And Moldova hasn't said whether it will raise this one with Moscow, the way it did last time.

The checkpoint is open again. The officer is said to be out of danger.

Nobody has said what happens the next time something comes down near that same crossing.