The villagers were shocked. On the morning of November 25, a Russian drone crashed onto the grounds of a farm in the village of Puiesti, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Romania's border with Moldova.

The horrified owner of the farm told local media that he was at home with his family when he heard a very loud bang. A drone had crashed into a tree. Many villagers later gave graphic accounts to the Romanian media, with some saying they feared a war and would now "pack their bags and leave."

Almost at the same time, in Moldova, Romania's northeastern neighbor, a Russian drone fell on the roof of a farm building in the village of Cuhurestii de Jos, 15 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. There, too, residents were frightened. "You get up in the morning and don't know what to expect," an elderly villager told Moldovan TV station JurnalTV.

A sense of fear and bewilderment prevails among residents of the two villages — as it does among the general population in Moldova and Romania. On Tuesday, the two countries experienced the most serious airspace violations by Russia since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine. During the extensive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine on Tuesday morning, a total of six Russian drones entered Moldovan airspace, including the one that crashed in Cuhurestii de Jos.

In Romania, meanwhile, the drone that crashed in Puiesti apparently flew in national airspace for several hours, flying a large loop over the east of the country. Residents of several counties spoke of receiving drone warnings on their mobile phones.

Were the airspace violations intentional?

Moldova, a nation that is virtually defenseless militarily, lacks any functioning air defense against drones.

The situation was different in NATO member Romania, where four fighter jets from the defense alliance took off, including two with German pilots. However, they apparently lost sight of the drone repeatedly and were reluctant to shoot it down.

The two crashed drones were evidently not loaded with explosives. In Russian attacks on Ukraine, such flying objects are mostly used to deceive air defenses and can also be used for reconnaissance. The flight paths of the drones that entered Moldovan and Romanian airspace suggest that Russia deliberately steered the flying objects into the two countries.

They presumably flew from Crimea across the Black Sea to the Danube Delta and then to the southern and central parts of Moldova and eastern Romania. However, unlike the Polish government's response to the drone incident in Poland in early September 2025, Moldovan and Romanian officials have not yet accused Russia of deliberately directing the drones into the two countries.

Airspace violated dozens of times

In Moldova, the Russian ambassador was summoned. But in Romania, the government is yet to respond to Moscow. The Russian ambassador in Bucharest has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry several times for similar airspace violations, most recently in mid-November, when he was shown parts of a Russian drone that had crashed on Romanian territory.

Russia has violated the airspace of Moldova and Romania dozens of times in recent years, using both drones and missiles. There have also been several explosions in Romania.

Most recently, a Russian drone exploded on Romanian territory on November 4, near the border triangle with Moldova and Ukraine and only about ten kilometers from the city of Galati on the Danube.

Just last week, the inhabitants of the village of Plauru in the northern Danube Delta were brought to safety after a liquid gas tanker was set on fire by a Russian drone in the port city of Izmail on the Ukrainian bank of the Danube, threatening to cause a massive explosion. The Romanian bank of the Danube, where the village of Plauru is located, is only about 250 meters from the port of Izmail.

What needs to happen to trigger a decisive response?

For Moldova and Romania, Russia's war in Ukraine is increasingly becoming part of everyday life. Many observers, especially in NATO-member Romania, are now asking what else needs to happen before the current government and NATO forces on Romanian soil take decisive action. After all, the largest NATO air base in Southeast Europe is located near the Black Sea port city of Constanta.

"It's incomprehensible," commented a presenter on the Digi24 television channel: "The laws for shooting down drones were created, the orders were given, the soldiers had free rein, and yet this drone was not shot down." Romanian Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu, a staunch supporter of Ukraine and not normally one to hesitate, struggled to explain himself to the press. "We are not at war," he said, "we cannot just shoot without thinking about the consequences."

'Promenade for Russian drones'

In February 2025, the Romanian parliament voted in favor of a change in the law that allows drones to be shot down in the country's airspace — which was not possible before. The law came into force in May 2025. The fact that no Russian drones have been shot down since then is not seen as a problem by Romania's President Nicusor Dan.

On Wednesday, he gave a surprisingly conciliatory statement to the Romanian media: "All these drones that occasionally enter our territory are accidents."  He added that such incidents occur in many places in Europe. "So these are technical problems." He did not specify what "technical problems" he meant.

Former Romanian President Traian Basescu, who was known for his self-confident approach to Moscow during his term in office from 2004 to 2014, took a completely different view. Speaking on the Digi24 channel, he said: "A country that respects itself does not allow its airspace to become a promenade for Russian drones."

This article was originally published in German.