Nineteenth Airspace Breach: Camera-Equipped Gerbera Drone Crashes Near Cernița, First of Its Type Found in Moldova

Moldova's Defence Ministry reported four drone incursions into national airspace on the morning of September 24, as Russia launched a mass strike of 282 drones and missiles against Ukraine that also sent debris into Romania (near Solca) and prompted Poland to scramble fighters twice. One of the four Moldovan incursions ended when a drone struck a tree and fell into a field beside a farm near Cernița, in the northern Florești district, exploding on impact; no one was injured, and the blast scorched part of a cornfield. Moldovan police said the wreckage carried an onboard camera and preliminarily identified it as a Gerbera — a low-cost Russian decoy/reconnaissance drone often launched alongside Shahed-type munitions to saturate air defences — the first confirmed example of the type found on Moldovan territory. Authorities did not disclose the precise crossing points or flight paths of the other three drones reported that morning. This marks the nineteenth confirmed Moldovan airspace breach since the crisis began August 9.