Russian drones reportedly crash in Moldova and Romaniapublished at 15:30 GMT 25 November
15:30 GMT 25 November
Sherie Ryder and Dzhafer Umerov
BBC Verify
We’ve been looking at a number of social media posts showing what appear to be Russian drones that have come down in rural areas of Moldova and Romania.
In Moldova, a drone was removed from the roof of a building in a rural location which we could geolocate by looking at surrounding trees, roofs and a closer inspection of a window.
On the tail, we could see a red Z sprayed on the side, which is widely used as a pro-war symbol in Russia.
Police identified the drone as a Gerbera – a Russian made variant of the Iranian Shahed – but without an explosive payload.
The drone has been taken away for inspection. We sent the image to Stuart Ray, senior imagery analyst at McKenzie Intelligence Services Ltd, who confirmed to us it was a Gerbera.
“The Russians now build these on license and have modified them to have a longer range but less of a payload. They can also be used for reconnaissance and as a decoy,” he told us.
Image source, Facebook/ Poliția Republicii MoldovaImage caption,
Moldovan police posted this picture on Facebook of the white Gerbera drone with a red Z painted on the tailfin
In Romania, which shares a 400-mile (640km) border with Ukraine, we saw reports of a drone landing in a house’s courtyard in the village of Puiesti.
Romania’s Defence Minister Ionut Mosteanu said Nato pilots came close to shooting down a drone which entered the country’s airspace.
They held off firing over concern about causing damage on the ground, he added.
We were able to match the entrance to the courtyard, along with drainage ducts on the road, with Google Maps Street View. Reverse Image Searches confirmed the images are new.