Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador today after drones targeting facilities in neighboring Ukraine exploded in the country, and after another NATO member, Romania, also reported airspace violations.
"The drones violated our airspace and two of them exploded on our territory," Moldovan President Maia Sandu said, accusing Russia of not respecting borders.
The government decided to urgently summon the Russian ambassador to protest against actions deemed unacceptable due to the "frequent" overflight of airspace by Russian drones.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chisinau, the overflight of Russian unmanned aerial vehicles poses increasing risks to regional stability.
According to Moldovan border police, two drones crashed into fields in the south of the country, on the border with Ukrainian territory, without causing injuries.
Local authorities said debris was also found at a third location and staff at a border crossing were evacuated from the scene.
In Romania, the Defense Ministry announced that a Russian aircraft had briefly crossed the country's airspace near the Ukrainian town of Reni on the Danube.
Due to the incident, Romania activated four fighter jets earlier today, two F-16s from the Romanian Air Force and two Eurofighters from the Spanish Air Force deployed on an Atlantic Alliance mission, after a Russian aircraft "briefly" entered its airspace.
The Bucharest Defense Ministry said Romanian radars detected at 00:30 (02:30 in Lisbon) an aerial object that briefly crossed Romanian airspace.
Spanish fighter jets are taking part in NATO's reinforced air surveillance service in Romania.
The incident comes a day after a meeting between Spanish and Romanian Defense Ministers Margarita Robles and Angel Tilvar at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base, where they discussed strengthening NATO's eastern flank and the security situation in the Black Sea region.
The two ministers met during Robles' visit to Spanish troops stationed in Romania, who are taking part in the NATO operation to control and protect the Alliance's eastern flank.
Romania, a NATO member country that borders Ukraine, has become an ally in transferring aid to Kiev and facilitating the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to international markets through local ports.
Since the start of the offensive in February 2022, Moscow has carried out drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian port facilities near Romania and Moldova.
The two countries, which have discovered drone wreckage several times, regularly condemn repeated violations of their airspace.
In September last year, defense ministers from NATO's eastern flank called for a "collective response" to such incidents.
For NATO, however, there is no indication at this stage that these incidents constitute an intentional attack by Russia against Alliance member countries.
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