Moldova's foreign ministry condemns violation of airspace, explosion of aerial 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," the ministry stated.

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.

In separate incident, Russian drone shot down over Romania 

An F-18 fighter on a NATO air policing mission shot down a drone that illegally breached Romanian national airspace, the fourth unmanned aircraft shot down over the country this year, Romania's Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

A spokesperson for NATO's military headquarters, US Army Colonel Martin O'Donnell, said the alliance is constantly on watch and prepared to defend itself from any threat. 

"Additional details regarding Sunday’s incident remain under investigation, but the drone appears to be Russian," he said.