Russian drones crash in Moldova after violating its airspace

Two Russian drones exploded in Moldova on Wednesday night after an attack on a Ukrainian port across the border between the two countries, Moldovan President Maia Sandu has announced.

Sandu said on Thursday that the Iranian-designed Shahed drones that violated her country’s airspace “put Moldovan lives at risk”.

The drones crashed into a rural area in the south of the country following an overnight Russian aerial assault on Ukraine’s Reni port in the Odesa region, just 9 kilometres from the Moldovan town of Gurgulesti and 26 kilometres from the city of Galati in Romania, according to the Moldovan border police.

An investigation into the incident, which is not thought to have caused any injuries, is under way.

“Russia’s war on Ukraine crossed into Moldova again,” Sandu said in a post on the social media platform X. “Russia respects no borders, attacks civilians, spreads terror. Its war on Ukraine is criminal.”

In response to the incident, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in the capital, Chisinau, and condemned the “unacceptable violations” which “represent a serious threat to national security and the citizens” of Moldova.

The ministry said it has presented the Russian diplomat with fragments of the drones “as concrete evidence” of the violations.

Similar airspace violations occurred overnight in Romania, where the Ministry of National Defence scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after the country’s airspace was violated. The ministry said today that there was a “possible impact area” but that no “material damage” was reported.

The ministry described the Russian attacks as “unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law.”

In a separate development, Moldova has terminated a 1998 cultural agreement with Russia, with the government announcing that “the Russian Cultural Centre is to cease its activity in our country”.