Moldova’s Defense Ministry reported a drone crossing the country’s airspace on Oct. 23, while a resident later alerted police to an aerial vehicle near a home and officials gave differing accounts of a Russian Embassy employee’s expulsion status.
President Maia Sandu said the employee had already been declared persona non grata. She identified the object that fell near homes and an energy facility in Chiștelnița as a Russian Geran attack drone. “Russia’s war keeps putting Moldovan lives at risk,” Sandu wrote. The Defense Ministry confirmed an unauthorized flight but did not identify the aircraft or say whether it was the same object found near the home.
Moldpres reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Embassy employee would be declared persona non grata, a different timing from Sandu’s account. Moldpres also reported that the ministry described the drone as carrying explosives; the Defense Ministry did not specify a payload.
The Defense Ministry said its monitoring showed the aircraft entering Moldovan airspace at 6:59 a.m. EDT (10:59 UTC), approaching from the direction of Verhnia Slobidka in Ukraine’s Vinnytsia region and heading toward Frunzeuca in Camenca district. Its signal disappeared near Pepeni at 7:10 a.m. EDT (11:10 UTC), returned briefly and was lost again near Meșeni at 7:12 a.m. EDT (11:12 UTC).
Police said a resident had reported finding an aerial vehicle in Chiștelnița and that the area was secured for examination. Moldovan media, citing police information, reported no casualties and placed the object about 100 meters from a residence.
The ministry’s count for 2026 stood at 65 airspace-violation incidents as of Oct. 23, including 17 during October. It put the total since 2022 at 102 and said a drone crashed and exploded near Codrenii Noi on Oct. 16. The ministry linked the regional danger to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and said harm to residents or critical infrastructure could outweigh the expense of stronger equipment to track and stop aerial threats.
