Chișinău (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Following a fresh drone incursion, Moldova, which borders Ukraine, closed its airspace for roughly an hour overnight, the country’s defence ministry announced on Saturday.
Since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the tiny nation that borders NATO member Romania and war-torn Ukraine has frequently experienced airspace violations.
The most recent event follows Moldova’s announcement earlier this week that six drones had crossed its airspace and one had crashed on its territory.
How did unidentified drones violate Moldova’s national airspace again?
Moldova’s airspace
“was temporarily closed for approximately one hour and 10 minutes, between 22:43 and 23:53, as an emergency measure, after two unidentified drones illegally flew over the national territory, creating a direct threat to aviation safety”,
the defence ministry said in a press release on Saturday, AFP reported.
It also stated that Moldova’s radars did not detect the Gerbera-type drones, but their incursion was
“confirmed by the Ukrainian border authorities.”
“No objects, debris or elements posing a danger to the population have been identified and both drones have permanently left national airspace, moving deep into Ukrainian territory,”
the interior ministry said.
According to the statement, two aeroplanes travelling to Chisinau from Paris and Barcelona were diverted to Romania during the airspace closure. Additionally, another aircraft that was about to take off from Chisinau was temporarily grounded.
“Moldova strongly condemns these illegal and dangerous actions, which endangered the safety of civilian flights and human lives,”
said the defence ministry, branding the violations as
“hostile acts of intimidation and destabilisation”.
Why did Moldova summon Russia’s ambassador over drone incidents?
Moreover, on Wednesday, Moldova summoned Russia’s ambassador regarding the previous drone crash, presenting the drone outside its foreign ministry along with a protest note, and urged Moscow to take measures to prevent future incidents, Reuters reported.
Russia’s ambassador questioned whether one of the drones was truly connected to an intrusion and indicated that the incident may have been intended to damage Moscow’s already strained relations with Chisinau.
What damage did Moldova report from the crashed Russian drone?
Moldova reported six Russian drone incursions on Tuesday, one landing on a roof outside Floresti near the Ukrainian border, and another flying through Moldovan airspace before heading toward Romania.
Moldova’s Foreign Ministry said the incident was
“absolutely unacceptable”
and a
“serious violation of Moldova’s sovereignty and a direct threat to national and regional sovereignty”.
Outside the ministry building, where ambassador Oleg Ozerov entered, authorities placed an 18-kg drone that reportedly landed on a roof in a nearby village.
“Do you believe this? A drone runs out of fuel and lands on a roof without causing damage?”
Ozerov told reporters.
“There are many false flag operations. Many attempts to spoil our relations with Moldova, which are already at their lowest point in history,”
Ozerov said.
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