A drone believed to have originated in Russia entered Moldovan airspace and exploded in a field on Monday, Moldovan police said.
The unidentified aircraft crashed in the Stefan Voda district in the far south-east of the country, sparking a small fire, police said on Telegram. No one was injured.
Experts were examining the crash site. Ukrainian media reported that a Russian Banderol drone had strayed off course while approaching the Ukrainian port city of Odessa and crossed the border into Moldova.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that drones entering the country's airspace posed a danger to the population and blamed Russia for the threat.
She told Radio Moldova that Moscow bore responsibility because it had "started this war against Ukraine," adding that diplomatic protests and other measures were not enough to change Russian policy.
"The most important thing we can do to stop these drones, both in the Republic of Moldova and in Ukraine, is to help Ukraine so that it succeeds in this war and Russia can no longer continue fighting," Sandu said.
The incident came just a day after a drone was shot down over neighbouring Romania by a Spanish fighter jet deployed as part of NATO air policing operations.
The drone had entered Romania from Moldovan airspace before being detected and destroyed, the Romanian Defence Ministry said on X.
Its wreckage is believed to have fallen over uninhabited terrain in the Galati district. The ministry did not provide any information about the drone's origin.