Moldova’s foreign ministry condemns violation of airspace, explosion of aerial object

CHISINAU, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Moldova’s foreign ministry condemned the violation of the country’s airspace by an unidentified aerial object that later exploded on Monday, it said in a statement on social media. 

Moldova shares a border with Ukraine and supports that country in Russia’s war in Ukraine. It has dealt with numerous incidents of drones flying over its territory and debris near the border. 

The aerial object entered Moldovan airspace at 1737 local time (1437 GMT) and exploded shortly after, near the settlement of Talmaza, close to the border with Ukraine, Moldovan authorities said. The explosion set grass on fire but there were no casualties, they said. They did not identify the origin of the object.  

“This incident constitutes a serious violation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova and poses a direct risk to the safety of our citizens. Such incidents are unacceptable,” the foreign ministry said in its statement.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas in Chisinau; Writing by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Matthew Lewis)