Moldova closed its airspace for about an hour overnight following a drone incursion that its pro-European president denounced on Saturday, accusing Russia of flying across her country to attack civilians in neighbouring Ukraine. The country, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, has repeatedly reported violations of its airspace since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Earlier this week, Moldova said a drone had crashed on its soil, with six drones in total overflying its territory. The defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday airspace had been “closed for approximately one hour and 10 minutes” just before 11:00pm local time on Friday (2100 GMT). The ministry said the “emergency measure” came after two unidentified drones illegally flew over Moldovan territory, “creating a direct threat to aviation safety”. The ministry added that Moldovan radars had not detected the drones, but the 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. However, two commercial flights were diverted to Romania during the incident and another plane preparing for leave from Chisinau was temporarily grounded, it said. “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”. President Maia Sandu said in a post on X that the “brutal attack” was neither “the language of diplomacy, nor of a country claiming to negotiate peace”. “On their way to kill civilians, Russian drones again violated Moldovan airspace... We condemn these attacks and stand with Ukraine,” she said. On Wednesday, Moldova summoned the Russian envoy over the recent drone crash, handing him a protest note and placing the actual drone outside its foreign ministry.
