The Air Operations Centre of Moldova’s National Army reported on 16 October 2026 several unauthorised overflights of national airspace on the night of 15–16 October, “in the context of massive attacks by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.” The statement refers to unmanned aerial vehicles; it does not identify the operator of each object and does not report casualties.

The first object entered at 23:02 from Tymkove in Ukraine’s Odesa region toward Ivanovca and left national airspace at 23:20 near Bronnytsia, by Mohyliv-Podilskyi in Ukraine. A second UAV entered at 03:37 from Starokazachye toward Tudora and exited a minute later on the same track.

A third overflight was recorded at 03:46 on the Mohyliv-Podilskyi–Otaci line; at 03:48 the object left near Hadărăuți in Ocnița district. A fourth craft was detected at 05:59 from Starokazachye toward Căplani, exited at 06:00 toward Olănești, re-entered at 06:09 over Purcari (Ștefan Vodă) and left again at 06:10 via Dnestrovsc, in the Transnistrian segment, toward Hradenytsi in Ukraine.

Defence minister Anatolie Nosatîi wrote on Facebook, as quoted by Digi24, that a quick exit does not cancel the danger: any violation of national airspace is a risk to citizens’ safety. He said monitoring continues and condemned every case that threatens national security.

A later ministry statement tallied seven airspace-violation incidents between 10 and 16 October, including one on 10 October involving explosive drone fragments at Geamăna, Anenii Noi. Since the start of 2026 the institution has counted 63 incidents, 15 in October alone, and 100 since 2022. Those figures are the ministry’s, not an independent assessment.

The ministry asked people not to approach drones, missiles or fragments and to call 112. This article records the official bulletin; it does not, beyond the institution’s text, confirm the origin of each UAV and does not describe an attack on Chișinău.

Image: Diego Delso, Government Building, Chișinău (2023), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; not a photograph of the drones on the night of 15–16 October.

Sources consulted: Informează! — Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova; Patru drone au pătruns în spațiul aerian al Republicii Moldova, autoritățile sunt în alertă — Digi24.