Fourth Airspace Breach: Shahed Drone Crosses Into Gagauzia via Etulia, Returns in Six Minutes

A military-type aerial object, assessed as a Shahed-type drone, entered Moldovan airspace at 03:16 local time on the night of August 19-20 from the direction of Kotlovyna (Bolboka) in Ukraine's Izmail district, crossing into southern Moldova near the village of Etulia in the Gagauz Autonomous Territorial Unit before exiting back toward Ukraine at 03:22 — a roughly six-minute incursion. Moldova's Defence Ministry confirmed the flight occurred during an overnight Russian aerial attack on Ukraine, the same night a separate drone violated Romanian airspace near Galați and Poland scrambled aircraft without confirming a violation. It was the fourth confirmed breach of Moldovan airspace since August 9.