Ninth Airspace Breach: Shahed Drone Crosses Transnistria and Romania Before Crashing Near Rîșcani

A Shahed-type drone entered Moldovan airspace at 16:20 on September 8 near Slavianorebca, Ukraine, and tracked west across the Transnistrian sector near Bender before continuing toward Ungheni district. It exited Moldovan airspace at 16:37 near Zagarancea, crossing into Romania's Iași County toward Golăiești; Romania's Ministry of National Defence scrambled two Spanish F/A-18 jets from Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base and RO-Alert warnings were issued across five north-eastern counties (Iași, Vaslui, Neamț, Botoșani and others), briefly suspending flights at Iași International Airport. The drone then re-entered Moldovan airspace and crashed in a sunflower field near Mihăilenii Vechi, Rîșcani district — roughly 25km from the Romanian border — around 17:26, igniting four vegetation fires and leaving a large crater with metal-ball fragmentation; Moldovan police said the debris resembled a Geran-2 (Shahed-136)-type drone. No casualties were reported. It marks the ninth confirmed Moldovan airspace breach since the drone crisis began August 9, and the first to transit both the Transnistrian sector and NATO-member Romania in a single flight.