Moldova says 5 Russian aerial weapons violated country’s airspace, exploded on its territory

Moldova’s president on Saturday said five Russian aerial weapons, including Banderol missiles and drones, had violated the nation’s airspace and exploded on its territory.

Maia Sandu warned that Russia's attacks on neighboring Ukraine are "dangerously reaching Moldova.”

“Moscow is putting lives at risk across Europe and must be stopped,” she wrote on US social media platform X.

Separately, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry "strongly condemned" what it called a violation of the country’s airspace, stressing that drone fragments were found outside Causeni, near the village of Dubovca, between the localities of Delacau and Puhaceni, and near Crocmaz, where the incident caused a vegetation fire and property damage.

“Russia's war against Ukraine continues to pose concrete threats to our country and to the security of the entire region,” it said.

Moscow did not immediately comment on Moldova's allegations.

On Thursday, the ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Chisinau to hand a note of protest after three drones violated Moldova’s airspace in a single day.

The ministry said two of the drones crashed and exploded on the country's territory, stressing that over the past seven days, the country's airspace has been violated eight times.

Russian Ambassador to Moldova Oleg Ozerov accused Chisinau of ignoring Moscow's proposals to jointly investigate incidents involving drones crashing on Moldova’s territory.

"We are fed up with unsubstantiated accusations,” he told state-run news agency Tass, after visiting the Moldovan Foreign Ministry. “We have received no evidence that the drone is of Russian origin.”

In recent months, a growing number of European countries have protested alleged incursions by Russian drones into their airspace, claims denied by Moscow

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