Russia's drone war comes to Moldova and Romania

For Ukrainians, Russia's air war has been a bitter, bloody reality for years. People in Ukraine are being killed every day by missiles, bombs, and drones . But the country's central and southeastern European neighbors have also found themselves affected, albeit on a smaller scale: Missiles and drones sometimes invade their air space, and occasionally even crash on their territory.

Now the Russian drone war is coming dangerously close to two of Ukraine's neighbors: Romania and the Republic of Moldova , where drone incidents are now an almost daily occurrence. The drones often explode, leaving people injured, and there have also been recent attacks on Ukrainian checkpoints at the Moldovan and Romanian borders.

The attacks have now escalated to such a degree that many observers believe they can no longer be considered unintentional. They suspect the Kremlin is deliberately trying to bring the war to Ukraine's neighbors.

The latest drone incursion and crash on Tuesday caused a furore as it prevented a plane with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on board from taking off in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. A Russian Geran drone, which can fly as fast as 500 kilometers per hour (311 mph), took off in Crimea, then flew through Ukrainian airspace and eventually crashed in a sunflower field near the Moldovan city of Riscani.

The drone also flew over Romania, where two fighter jets were scrambled from NATO's Kogalniceanu airbase near the Black Sea port of Constanta, though it remains unclear why they did not shoot down the drone, as they had on other occasions.

The most serious aspect of the incident was that it showed how limited Moldovan air defense is in its ability to protect the country's air space. The drones were detected and tracked by air traffic control, but it was not possible to shoot them down. According to publicly available information, the country possesses only a small number of Polish Piorun anti-aircraft missiles, and these are only able to protect certain specific targets.

There have been around three dozen drone incidents in Romania and Moldova since the beginning of August this year. The majority were airspace violations, but there have also been crashes and explosions, while debris has also been found. In Romania, several drones have also been shot down. According to official data, 17 drones crashed in August in Moldova alone – as many as in all of 2025.

There was also a drone strike on the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and southeastern Moldova on the night of September 8. The crossing, situated around a kilometer from Moldovan territory, and was damaged in the attack. Two people were killed and two others wounded, one of them a Moldovan citizen.