Unidentified aerial target prompts Moldova airspace alert
Moldovan authorities restricted northern national airspace for 24 minutes on Monday after military radar tracked an unidentified aerial object crossing from Ukraine before disappearing near the border.
The Air Operations Service first detected the craft at 00:17 as it crossed from Tribusivca in Ukraine's Vinnytsia region toward Hristovaia, located on the separatist-controlled left bank of the Dniester. Surveillance systems subsequently tracked the target moving north toward the Ukrainian border town of Yampil and then onward over the town of Dondușeni.
Radar operators tracked the aircraft flying toward Briceni district at 00:38, before the signal vanished at 00:44 near the village of Tabani. Civil aviation authorities promptly closed airspace over northern districts for 24 minutes as a precautionary measure.
Ground search and radar surveillance
Specialized military personnel were immediately dispatched to the border sector where the radar contact ceased.
“Reconnaissance and engineer units of the National Army, alongside law enforcement personnel, deployed to the Tabani area to inspect the ground,” the Ministry of Defense said in an official statement. “National institutions, together with international partners, continue monitoring the airspace to guarantee public safety.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moldovan airspace and territory have faced more than 70 illegal overflights by missiles and drones, including decoy aircraft designed to confuse air defenses. Several devices have crashed on Moldovan soil, detonating upon impact and damaging civilian property.
String of aerial incursions
Monday's border alert comes amid an intensified series of aerial incidents recorded across the country in recent days.
On Friday, September 18, an explosion on a hill near Colonița, just outside the capital Chișinău, woke local residents at 04:20. Specialized search teams recovered suspected drone wreckage across a 100-metre blast radius, including the craft's engine.
The Border Police reported further unauthorized aerial transits through national airspace on Saturday, September 19, though ground searches yielded no impact sites. On Sunday morning, police investigated two separate reports of suspected aerial objects in the Orhei and Călărași districts, concluding that no debris, fires, or ground detonations occurred.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
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