On the morning of 24 September, during a wave of large-scale Russian attacks on Ukraine, four drones and unidentified aerial objects were detected in Moldova’s airspace. People heard explosions. Later, police found the site of an explosion that had been heard near the village of Chernitsa in the Florești district.
Newsmaker reported this and so did Moldovan police.
The Ministry of Defence said that at 05:21 a border patrol spotted an unidentified object flying from the direction of the village of Velyka Kishnytsya in Ukraine’s Vinnytsya Region towards Vasylke in the Soroca district. It later left Moldova’s airspace.
At 06:14–06:16, a drone crossed the border from the direction of Kelymentsi in Ukraine’s Chernivtsi Region towards Larga in the Briceni district, and two minutes later returned to Ukrainian airspace.
At around 06:35, another object entered Moldova’s airspace from the direction of Prydnistryanske in the Vinnytsya Region towards Volovytsya in the Soroca district. At 06:45, residents spotted it over the Florești district: it was moving along the route Gura-Ceinarului — Lunga — Bahrinești — Gura-Camencii.
At about 06:58, a drone flew from the direction of Kodyma in the Vinnytsya Region towards Sokoly in the Transnistrian region. At 07:11, it disappeared from monitoring systems near the village of Kunycha in the Camenca district.
For safety reasons, airspace in northern Moldova was temporarily closed. At 07:46, it was reopened.
Police also received two reports of sounds resembling explosions. At around 07:45, they were heard by a resident of Vadul-Rașcov in the Șoldănești district. According to preliminary information, the sounds may have come from Camenca on the left bank of the Dniester. Another report came from the outskirts of the village of Chernitsa in the Florești district.
Police found the site of an explosion, the sound of which had been heard near the village of Chernitsa in the Florești district. It was in a field near a farm.
According to preliminary information, no injuries have been reported. All specialised police units are heading to the scene to establish the circumstances of the incident and carry out the necessary examinations.
- In Moldova, since the start of 2026, 39 cases of airspace violations by drones have been recorded. Recently, a wave of Russian propaganda has also intensified in the country.
- In 2022, four cases of illegal drone flights in the country’s airspace were recorded in Moldova.
- In 2023, there were six such cases; in 2024, ten; in 2025, 17. Since the start of 2026, 39 such incidents have already been recorded.