Russian drones crash in Moldova and Romania as airspace violations are reported overnight
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CHISINAU, Moldova — Russian drones crashed in Moldova and Romania as the two Eastern European neighbors on Thursday reported violations of their airspace during Russian attacks on neighboring Ukraine.
The incidents reported Thursday were the latest in a string of airspace violations and drone fragment findings in Romania and Moldova since Russia launched its war on Ukraine.
The violations put “Moldovan lives at risk,” said Moldovan President Maia Sandu, adding that the drones were Iranian-designed Shahed unmanned aircraft that Moscow uses in its war on Ukraine.
According to Moldovan border police, several drones violated Moldova’s airspace amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s Reni port. No one was hurt when the two drones slammed into fields in the country’s south. An investigation was underway, national police said.
Daniel Voda, a spokesperson for the Moldovan government, told the Associated Press that both of the drones are of “Russian origin.”
Russia takes a triumphant tone after Trump jettisoned U.S. policy and said he would likely meet soon with Putin to negotiate a Ukraine peace deal.
“Russia’s war on Ukraine crossed into Moldova again,” Sandu said in a post on the social media platform X. “Russia respects no borders, attacks civilians, spreads terror. Its war on Ukraine is criminal.”
Moldova’s Foreign Ministry summoned the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in its capital, Chisinau, and condemned the “unacceptable violations,” which it said “represent a serious threat to national security and the citizens” of Moldova. The ministry also presented the Russian diplomat with fragments of the drones as evidence.
The ministry separately terminated a 1998 Moldova-Russia agreement on cultural centers and said that “the Russian Cultural Center is to cease its activity in our country.”
In neighboring Romania, a NATO member, the Ministry of National Defense raised two F-16 fighter jets after its airspace was violated.
The ministry later said that drone fragments were found at two crash sites in uninhabited areas, several miles from the town of Reni.
The drones were determined to be Shahed drones “used by the Russian Federation” and had explosive charges onboard that were “destroyed upon impact with the ground.”
The ministry described the Russian attacks as “unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law.”
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