The village of Palanca felt the full horror of the war in neighboring Ukraine one December day.

A mother was killed and her three children wounded by a Russian drone as they drove over the border bridge across the river Dniester into this previously quiet corner of southeastern Moldova, Ukrainian officials said.

¡°We are right across from there, and it terrified us,¡± villager Maria Morari, 62, said of the two days of attacks on the crossing.