Renato Usatii commented on the drone incident that occurred on Wednesday in the airspace of the Republic of Moldova and stated that authorities must take firmer measures to prevent similar situations in the future.
The politician referred to video footage published online showing the drone flying over the municipality of Balti and mocked the way the aircraft moved.
“I saw someone write that it traveled from Balti to Hincesti in 20 minutes. I calculated the distance at around 100 kilometers, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT says the drone’s speed is about 150 km/h, so it must have flown at around 250 kilometers per hour.
The videos I saw yesterday, with it flying over the municipality of Balti… The drone flew very casually, like it was heading to a village festival,” Renato Usatii said.
He added that the Republic of Moldova should discuss strengthening air security with international partners.
“But this is a very serious matter, and we need to talk with our partners and make decisions, because today one drone flies over, tomorrow there may be three. Or at least officials should go live and say: ‘Dear farmers, take out your slingshots and try to shoot it down yourselves if we have nothing to stop it with,’” the politician added.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon during a large-scale drone attack launched by Russian forces against Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Defence of Moldova, the drone entered Moldovan airspace from the direction of Mohyliv-Podilskyi and flew over several localities, including Ocnita, Balti, Ungheni, Calarasi, and Hincesti.
Authorities temporarily closed the airspace in the northern part of the country, and the aircraft later disappeared from radar near Giurgiulesti.
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova strongly condemned the unauthorized overflight of national airspace and described the incident as “an inadmissible violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova.”