Russian drone crosses into Moldova before looping back to strike Ukraine
Russian UAV was spotted ove Moldova (Photo: Serhii Smolientsev/Reuters)
A Russian Shahed-136 strike drone crossed into Moldovan sovereign airspace before looping back into Ukrainian territory during an overnight aerial assault, Moldova's Ministry of Defense reported on Aug. 20.
Defense officials stated that National Army surveillance systems detected and tracked the unauthorized flight in national airspace at approximately 3:16 a.m.
Preliminary data indicated that Shahed-136 (Geran-2) drone crossed the Moldovan state border from Ukrainian territory near the settlement of Kotlovyna in the Reni district, flying toward the village of Etulia in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.
Moldovan defense ministry noted that the drone exited the country’s airspace at 3:22 a.m., steering from Etulia back toward Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that during the overnight barrage on Aug. 20, Russian drones also struck a border checkpoint in Odesa Oblast along the Ukrainian-Moldovan border.
Scale of the Aug. 20 mass aerial assault
In Kyiv, Russian strikes killed 12 people and injured more than 30, inflicting widespread structural destruction and igniting multiple fires. Impacts damaged apartment buildings, a school, a children's hospital, warehouses, and other infrastructure across several capital districts.
In Kyiv Oblast, the assault killed one person and injured seven others. Emergency rescue crews responded to damaged residential buildings, warehouses, and civilian sites across Boryspil and Brovary districts.
The overnight strikes also cut electrical power to parts of Kyiv’s Svyatoshynskyi and Solomyanskyi districts, as well as the Brovary municipality in Kyiv Oblast, following direct damage to energy infrastructure assets.
Russian forces deployed an extensive salvo overnight into Aug. 20, including Onyx, Zircon, Iskander-M, and S-400 ballistic missiles, 36 Kh-101, Iskander-K, and Kh-59 cruise and air-launched guided missiles, eight Kalibr cruise missiles, two Banderol loitering munitions, and 168 Shahed, Gerbera, and Parodiya decoy drones. Russian aerial weapons struck 28 distinct locations, with falling debris from intercepted targets recorded in two additional areas.
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