Moldova shuts down airspace after drone crosses border from Ukraine
Photo: Chișinău Airport, Moldova (Wikipedia.org)
On September 12, Moldova temporarily closed part of its airspace due to an unknown drone that entered from Ukraine. The restrictions led to delays in several flights, according to tv8.md.
On Saturday, Moldova's Ministry of Defense reported that military radars detected an object that unauthorizedly entered the country's airspace from the direction of Ukraine. The incident was recorded at 15:26.
At the same time, a border police patrol visually identified the drone near the village of Vasilkovo in the Soroca District.
According to authorities, the drone flew over Moldovan territory and then disappeared from radar near the village of Baksany in the same district. At 16:03, the UAV was detected again - this time near the village of Cucconeshii Noi in the Edineț District in the north of the country.
For the safety of civil aviation, authorities temporarily closed the airspace in the northern and central parts of the country. The central zone was reopened at 16:20, and the northern zone at 16:30.
The restrictions affected several flights. An aircraft operating the Sharm el-Sheikh to Chișinău route spent time in a holding pattern near the Romanian city of Bacău, circling while awaiting permission to enter the airspace.
Departures were also delayed for flights from Chișinău to Bucharest, Chișinău to Istanbul, and Chișinău to Alicante.
After the restrictions were lifted, flights resumed in normal mode. Authorities warn that due to the temporary closure of the sky, further schedule changes and delays for certain flights are possible.
This is not the first case of Moldova's airspace being violated by drones. On September 8, a Shahed-type attack drone was detected in the country, prompting authorities to temporarily restrict flights as well.
At that time, Moldova clarified where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's aircraft was located during the drone incident - it was at Chișinău Airport at the time.
