Russian Drones Breach Moldova and Romania Almost Daily

Moldova. President Maia Sandu said Wednesday that Russia's war had reached the Moldovan border: "It is hard to understand, given this reality, that there are still voices who try to convince Moldovans that Russia is not the aggressor, or that the war in our part of the world has nothing to do with us."

Parliament President Igor Grosu wrote on Facebook that the incidents are ones "we can no longer view as something remote," saying the threat from Russia is not a "specter" and not propaganda: "It is a daily reality."

Defense Minister Anatolie Nosatii said deaths of Moldovan citizens can no longer be ruled out in future. Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Bolea warned that Giurgiulesti, Moldova's port on the Danube, could become a target after the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Romania and Moldova of using the port as a "transit hub" for arms shipments.

Rosian Vasiloi, a Moldovan military and security expert and former head of the country's border police, wrote on Facebook that Tuesday's crash was "a planned operation by the aggressor state," adding: "We can no longer view our airspace as separate from Ukraine's and Romania's."

Romania. The Romanian leadership had not responded to the latest incidents at the time of DW's report. Former Romanian General Virgil Balaceanu, a regular analyst in the country's media, urged Romania's leaders to speed up the buildup of Romanian air defenses and said he also believes Tuesday's incident was a deliberate maneuver.

Washington's read. The Institute for the Study of War wrote after the incident that there is no evidence the airspace violations were intentional, but that Russia benefits from them, and that incursions using the fast Geran model "aim to further test NATO and Moldovan defenses and the response of the entire NATO alliance."