Drone crashes in cornfield in Romania after crossing Ukrainian and Moldovan airspace
A drone crashed in a cornfield in Romania's Suceava county on Saturday after traversing the airspace of Ukraine and Moldova, prompting Romania to scramble F-16 fighters and issue emergency alerts. No casualties were reported.
Key points
- Drone crashed in a cornfield near Botoșenița Mare in Suceava county, Romania, causing a small fire and a crater approximately 1 meter in diameter.
- No casualties were recorded.
- Romanian authorities issued a RO-Alert after Ukrainian and Moldovan air operations centers notified Romania's Ministry of National Defense that a drone had crossed both countries' airspace heading toward northeastern Romania.
- Two Romanian Air Force F-16 fighters took off from the 86th Air Base in Borcea to monitor the situation.
- A RO-Alert was issued at 16:20 for Botoșani county, and a 112 emergency call reported a drone over the village of Știubieni.
- A pyrotechnic team from the SRI was dispatched to the scene.
- The incident follows multiple recent findings of drone debris on Romanian territory, including on a beach, with some debris reportedly carrying warheads.
Why it matters
A drone crossed the airspace of three countries before crashing on the territory of NATO member Romania, prompting military aircraft to be scrambled and emergency alerts to be issued. The incident follows multiple recent discoveries of drone debris on Romanian territory, some reportedly carrying warheads, suggesting an emerging security issue at Romania's border with Ukraine.
What happened
On Saturday, 12 September, Ukrainian and Moldovan Air Operations Centers notified Romania's Ministry of National Defense that a drone had crossed the airspace of both countries heading toward northeastern Romania. Two F-16 fighters of the Romanian Air Force took off from the 86th Air Base in Borcea to monitor the situation. The National Military Command Center informed the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and issued a RO-Alert at 16:20 for Botoșani county. Around the same time, a 112 emergency call reported the presence of a drone over the village of Știubieni in Botoșani county. A pyrotechnic team from the SRI was dispatched to the scene. The crashed drone was found in a cornfield near Botoșenița Mare in Suceava county, causing a small fire and a crater approximately 1 meter in diameter and 30 cm deep. No casualties were recorded. In Moldova, military radars detected an object that entered the country's airspace from the direction of Ukraine, and border police visually observed an unmanned aerial vehicle near the village of Vasilkove in the Sorok district. The drone was again spotted near Kukoneshtii Noi in the Edinet district before disappearing from radars near Baksany in the Sorok district. Moldovan authorities closed the airspace in the northern and central parts of the country, causing delays to several flights.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
The Ukrainian-language source frames the story as a news event about a drone crash on Romanian territory, noting the location near Suceava without explicit attribution of the drone's origin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commenting separately on an incident with a drone near his plane in Moldova, said that one or even a hundred drones is not a problem for Ukraine, but rather thousands of high-speed UAVs per day.
Background
Romania shares borders with Ukraine and Moldova, placing it near the ongoing conflict. In the days surrounding this incident, Romanian authorities found drone debris on a beach and in other locations, some reportedly carrying warheads. Romanian F-16 fighters had been scrambled the previous morning to monitor air targets near the Ukrainian border.