Moldova’s Defence Ministry recorded five unauthorised drone flights over national airspace in the early hours of Thursday, shortly before a military parade in Chișinău marking 35 years of independence. The incursions were detected in the southeastern Ştefan Vodă district, including routes near Palanca, Căplani, Carahasani, Purcari, Răscăeți and the Săiți border crossing.
The ministry linked the flights to Russian air attacks on Ukraine overnight, while President Maia Sandu described the incident as an act of intimidation. Two of the drones were not tracked out of Moldovan airspace, and others later disappeared from monitoring systems, but no wreckage was reported in the ministry’s initial statement.
A later update from Moldovan authorities reported an object resembling a drone near the Chișinău–Basarabeasca route, with specialists due to determine whether it was one of the aircraft detected overnight. The timing came hours before Independence Day events in the capital, giving the episode immediate political and security sensitivity.