Drones invade Moldovan airspace 3 times in 1 day as Russia wages relentless attack against Ukraine

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the latest developments.

Drones invaded Moldova's airspace three separate times on Sept. 30, as Russia launched a day-long attack against Ukraine overnight and into the following afternoon.

The first incident occurred at around 5:43 a.m. local time, according to Moldova's Defense Ministry. A drone flew into Moldovan airspace, crashed outside  the village of Hirbovat in the central Anenii Noi district, and exploded.

According to preliminary information, no injuries were reported from the explosion. Moldovan police and army teams were headed to inspect the site.

Hours later, Moldova announced that it closed the airspace in its northern and central regions due to the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle over the country's territory at 10:26 a.m. The drone was detected in the village of Lunga in the Dubasari district, located in Moldova's Russian-occupied Transnistria region.

The third incident was reported at 8:45 p.m. local time, when an unknown object crossed the border into Moldova from Ukraine's Vinnytsia Oblast. The object again flew over Transnistria before heading towards Moldova's Rezina district and ultimately disappearing from monitoring systems.

Neighboring Romania also responded to drone threats amid Russia's massive strike against Ukraine on Sept. 30.  

Romania's Defense Ministry said that its radars detected an aerial target east of Izmail during the night and two F-18 fighter jets of the Spanish air force stationed in the NATO country scrambled as a precaution. No object entered Romanian air space, the ministry said.

Overnight, Russia attacked regions across Ukraine with 188 drones, 86 of them jet-powered, as well as with Zircon, Onyx, and Iskander missiles, according to Ukraine's Air Force. The Air Force said it shot down or suppressed five missiles and 155 drones.

On Sept. 24, suspected Russian drones crashed in Romania and Moldova overnight, amid a sustained mass drone and missile attack on Ukraine.

Moldovan police said in a post on Facebook that a drone with "specific elements of the 'Gerbera' type used by the Russian Federation" was found in the country's Floresti district.

On Aug. 16, NATO fighter jets shot down a suspected Russian drone that violated Romanian airspace near the Moldovan border, Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruta confirmed.

A day later on Aug. 17, a Russian S8000 Banderol cruise missile entered Moldovan airspace during a Russian attack on Odesa, before crashing in a cornfield approximately 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) outside of the village of Talmaz, in the Stefan Voda district of Moldova.