German foreign minister cuts visit to southern Ukraine short over Russian drone sighting

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was forced to cut short her tour of a waterworks facility in southern Ukraine after the spotting of a Russian drone, German media reported Sunday.

Baerbock had been visiting the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv when members of the delegation were asked to promptly return to armored vehicles in Baerbock's convoy after a Russian drone was sighted flying over the facility, German news agency dpa quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying on the sidelines of the visit.

The drone had initially followed Baerbock's convoy, but then turned away. A short time after the minister's departure, air raid sirens went off in the Mykolaiv region.

On Saturday evening, Baerbock had to go to a shelter in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa after another alarm triggered at 9.48 p.m. local time (1948GMT). While the alert was canceled about 20 minutes later, Baerbock remained in the shelter of her hotel together with members of her delegation and other guests, according to dpa.

Sources from the German delegation said it was a missile alarm that had sounded, and that an explosion was later heard in the Odesa region, though it was unclear whether or not Ukrainian air defenses succeeded in blocking the projectile.

Details on possible damage or victims remain unknown. Two Russian drone attacks left reportedly a total of four dead and several injured in Odesa city shortly before Baerbock's visit.