| Date | 16 Oct 2026 |
| Tracker | European Airspace Violations |
| Type | Strike |
| Location |
Codrenii Noi, Dondușeni District, Moldova
48.15, 27.57 (approximate) |
Moldova's Ministry of Defence said the National Army's Air Operations Centre tracked four unauthorised flights through national airspace on the night of 15-16 October 2026, during massive Russian attacks on Ukraine: an object that crossed for 18 minutes from 23:02 towards Ivanovca, drones near Tudora at 03:37 and between Otaci and Hădărăuți at 03:46, and one that entered near Căplani at 05:59 and crossed again over Purcari at 06:09. At 16:22 a drone entered near Sobari, in Soroca district, then crashed and exploded in a field outside Codrenii Noi, in Dondușeni district; police reported no casualties. The ministry did not name an origin.
| Date | Type | Incident |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Oct 2026 | Incursion | Four aerial targets cross into Romanian airspace off Sulina in three waves |
| 15 Oct 2026 | Incursion | Russian drone crosses south-eastern Moldova over Purcari for eight minutes |
| 15 Oct 2026 | Incursion | Drone enters Romanian airspace south-east of Sulina for about a minute |
| 17 Oct 2026 | Interception | Two jet-powered Geran drones shot down by Romanian F-16s over territorial waters off Sulina |
GlobalMilitary.net's 2026 inventory snapshot shows nine NATO members — Iceland, Luxembourg, the three Baltic states, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and Slovenia — hold no fixed-wing fighters, attack aircraft or bombers and depend on Allied air policing.
GlobalMilitary.net's incident log counts 45 established violations of European airspace between January 1 and August 16, 2026, against 31 for the whole of 2025 - and almost all of the growth sits in incidents that ended with a shootdown or an explosion on the ground.
An Italian Eurofighter on NATO Baltic Air Policing duty destroyed an unidentified drone over eastern Latvia before dawn on 14 August, the second time the alliance's quick-reaction force has shot one down over the country this year.