The Ministry of Defense of Moldova officially confirmed the violation of the country’s airspace by a Russian drone of the ‘Shahed’ type on May 13. The incident coincided with a large-scale drone attack on Ukraine, and the aircraft was spotted by local residents and recorded on video in the city of Bălți.
This is reported by Finway
Drone’s trajectory over Moldova
According to information from the Ministry of Defense of Moldova, the drone illegally crossed the state border from the Vinnytsia region and headed towards the village of Saucha in the Ocnita district. At 16:05, local residents of Bălți noticed the drone moving towards the Ungheni area. Subsequently, according to official data, at 16:19 the aircraft was detected by the National Army’s surveillance systems in the Lepushna area, Hincesti County, and four minutes later — near the Kerpeneni area of the same county. The drone was moving southward across the country.
The observation of the flight continued until 16:26, when the drone disappeared from radar near the village of Mingir in Hincesti County. However, at 16:55 it reappeared on the radars in the Djurdjulesti area, after which it finally disappeared from surveillance systems. By 16:59, the airspace in the northern and central regions of Moldova was opened for civil aviation.
Government response and additional incidents
The country’s authorities urged citizens to exercise caution and to immediately report any reappearance of the drone to emergency services at the number 112.
“At 16:05, local residents noticed the drone over the city of Bălți, moving along a trajectory towards the Ungheni area,” the statement said.
It was also reported that as a result of the ‘Shahed’ drone attack in Rivne, Ukraine, the drone crashed into a residential building, resulting in the deaths of three people.