President of Moldova: 5 Russian drones violated our airspace and exploded on our territory

The President of Moldova said on Saturday that five Russian aerial weapons, including Banderol missiles and drones, had violated the country’s airspace and exploded on its territory.

Maia Sandu warned that Russia’s attacks on neighbouring Ukraine are “dangerously reaching Moldova”.

“Moscow is endangering human lives across Europe and must be stopped,” she wrote on 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 material damage.

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

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

The ministry said two of the drones were shot down and exploded on the country’s territory, stressing that over the last seven days the country’s airspace has been violated eight times.

Russia’s ambassador to Moldova, Oleg Ozerov, accused Chisinau of ignoring Moscow’s proposals to jointly investigate the incidents involving drones downed on Moldova’s territory.

“We are fed up with baseless accusations,” he said after visiting the Moldovan Foreign Ministry.

In recent months, a growing number of European countries have protested against suspected intrusions by Russian drones into their airspace, claims denied by Moscow.