Airspace in Moldova Was Partially Closed Due to an Unidentified Drone
On September 12, Moldova temporarily restricted access to part of its airspace due to an unidentified drone.
On Saturday, the Moldovan Ministry of Defense reported that military radars had detected an object that had entered the country’s airspace without authorization from the direction of Ukraine.
The incident was recorded at 3:26 p.m.
At the same time, a Border Police patrol visually spotted the unmanned aerial vehicle near the village of Vasylkove in the Soroca District.
According to authorities, the drone flew over the territory of the Republic of Moldova before disappearing from radar near the village of Baksani in the Soroca District.
At 4:03 p.m., the drone was spotted again near the village of Kukoneshti Noi in the Edinet District in the north of the country.
To ensure the safety of civil aviation, the authorities temporarily closed the airspace in the northern and central parts of the country.
The central zone was reopened at 4:20 p.m., and the northern zone at 4:30 p.m.
The restrictions caused delays for several flights. According to aviation authorities, the plane, which was operating the Sharm el-Sheikh–Chisinau flight, remained in a holding pattern near the Romanian city of Bacău for some time, circling while awaiting permission to enter the airspace.
Flights from Chisinau to Bucharest, Chisinau to Istanbul, and Chisinau to Alicante were delayed.
Source: TV8
As a reminder, the operations of three checkpoints on the border between Ukraine and Moldova will be temporarily adjusted.
Ukraine and Moldova reacted with caution to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s statement that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plane may have been threatened by a drone during its flight to Oslo.
