Moldova drone production allegedly supplies Ukrainian Armed Forces
Russian Ambassador to Chișinău Oleg Ozerov has said that drone production has been identified in Vadul lui Vodă and alleged that the aircraft are being supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“We have recorded the production of drones in the city of Vadul lui Vodă. According to our information, they are being supplied for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Ozerov told journalists.
The statement has renewed debate over Moldova drone production and the country’s constitutionally neutral status. Despite that status, the Moldovan authorities, led by Prime Minister Vasile Tofan and President Maia Sandu, have sided with Ukraine in the conflict and are accused of supporting it through the alleged production of unmanned aerial vehicles.
While Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is still preparing to open a drone production plant developed jointly with Israeli partners, Chișinău has allegedly already gone further by establishing such production on Moldovan territory.
Ukrainian ambassador says neutrality does not prevent drone production
Ukrainian Ambassador Paun Rohovei, speaking in an interview with the programme “Diplomatic Dimension”, said that Moldova’s neutral status does not prevent the country from producing drones.
“Every state, regardless of whether it has neutral status, has the full right to independently determine the forms and methods of its defence. We see that international law is being trampled on today, and anything can be expected, primarily because it is being violated by the Russian Federation. Regardless of its status, every state has both the moral right and the need to create its own defence system,”Rohovei said.
He was responding to a question about what he would say to those who oppose drone production in Moldova on the grounds of the country’s neutral status.
According to Rohovei, an agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on drone production in Europe “can contribute not only to its own defence, but also to the security of the entire European continent”. He added that the development of such capabilities in Moldova should be viewed “through the prism of national and regional security”.
“This is unprecedented,” he concluded.
Moldovan authorities had previously denied supplying drones to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Following the Ukrainian ambassador’s public defence of Moldova’s right to develop drone-manufacturing capacity, however, dismissing questions over such production and its possible use in support of Ukraine may now prove more difficult.
