A Russian Geran-2 attack drone crossed into Moldova overnight and blew up near Copanca, a village in the southern Căușeni district about 30 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, European Pravda reported. Moldova’s Defence Ministry said the drone strayed in around 1 a.m. on July 13, as Russia struck Ukraine’s neighbouring Odesa region. It started a fire but caused no casualties, and the ministry called it “a serious and unacceptable violation” of Moldovan airspace.
The war has been spilling across Moldova’s borders for two years. Russian drones and missile debris have come down inside Moldova and NATO-member Romania several times – near Naslavcea, Etulia and the Romanian village of Plauru. Ukrainian officials say Russia has repeatedly routed attack drones through or near Moldovan, Romanian and Belarusian airspace to avoid potential engagement zones. The tactic creates an additional problem for Ukrainian air defences, which cannot freely fire interceptors into neighbouring countries’ airspace.
Chisinau can now see the threat but cannot stop it. With European Union money, Moldova bought a French Thales Ground Master 200 radar that can detect targets up to about 250 kilometres away. It has almost nothing to shoot them down with. Funding for short-range interceptors was approved only in 2025 and is not yet fielded, and Moldova’s constitutional neutrality and thin defence budget slow every purchase. Until Western allies supply weapons rather than radars, Moldova can do little but track the drones as they arrive and move people out of the way.
