A Russian missile crossed EU and NATO borders before striking Ukraine, with Moldova confirming the flight.

One of the cruise missiles launched by Russia during the massive attack on December 25 passed through the territories of Moldova and Romania before entering Ukraine. This was reported by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and monitoring channels. According to their information, the missile traveled 140 kilometers through Moldova and Romania, flying over the area of the Moldovan city of Yampil and the Romanian town of Darabani.

It entered Ukraine in the Chernivtsi region, heading towards Chernivtsi. Initially, the missile crossed through Moldova, then through Romania (which has been a NATO member since 2004).

"The X-101 missile, which passed through Moldova and Romania, ultimately 'tired out' and successfully struck a field. There’s not much left of it; we can go to Romania and Moldova and show what is flying in their airspace. This is in case there are claims that 'we saw nothing and heard nothing,'" reported the popular monitoring public Mykolaiv Vanyok, whose activities are associated with General Dmytro Marchenko and Ukrainian military Roman Kostenko.

Moldova confirmed the flight of the Russian missile over its territory and Romania. The government of the Republic of Moldova stated that one of the missiles launched by Russia was spotted by a patrol in the border area towards Yampil - Koseuts.

Later, one of the missiles allegedly crossed Moldovan airspace in the Otač - Mohyliv-Podilskyi area and exited through the border with Romania near Dorohoy-Hertza. Currently, the Moldovan side is conducting additional checks.

The Romanian side - did not see the missile. The spokesperson for the Romanian Ministry of Defense, Constantin Spinu, stated that the country's air defense did not detect the entry of the Russian missile into its airspace on December 25. He made this comment to Digi24. According to Spinu, Ukraine informed Romania about the flight of the Russian missile through Moldovan airspace around 7:30 AM, after which it "was in the area of the city of Darabani for about two minutes."

"According to the monitoring data from Romanian air surveillance systems and information provided by NATO countries that complement the monitoring, there was no confirmation of the crossing of Romanian airspace in Romania's area of responsibility," the spokesperson continued.

He assured that the competent structures of the Romanian Ministry of Defense "will continue to investigate this situation to clarify all circumstances."

International Community Reaction

Official comments from Moldova and Romania were only received around noon on December 25. However, the incident has already sparked discussions on social media due to the fact that Romania has been a NATO member since 2004, and Moldova has been an associated member of the EU since 2014. Monitoring channels sarcastically predicted that the countries would deny the information, and in the event of official statements claiming that the missile "went unnoticed," Ukraine is prepared to provide evidence of its route, as reported by monitoring channels.

The missile, according to preliminary information, was of the X-101 model. Subsequently, it fell without causing significant damage, particularly in the Chernivtsi region. Overall, this incident serves as further evidence of Russia's aggressive tactics, which pose a threat not only to Ukraine but also to neighboring states, including EU and NATO countries.

It is worth noting that this is not the first instance of Russian missiles entering the territories of other countries. For example, in October 2022, a Russian occupier's missile fell in Moldova, which was shot down by Ukrainian air defense. There were no casualties. However, the missile's interception damaged the windows of several houses.

In November 2022, during another massive missile attack on Ukraine from the Russian side, a missile also fell on Moldovan territory. It was discovered near the border, close to the city of Briceni. Border police found the remnants of the munition.

In September 2023, local residents of the village of Harbovets in the Causeni region of Moldova reported to the authorities about a strange find in a lake. They noticed debris that could belong to a missile. People believe this is related to the war in Ukraine and that the cruise missile may have crashed in this area. Authorities confirmed that the remains indeed came from an aviation missile.