Larga paraglider, Moldova, 26 Oct 2026 - pilot asked asylum

A powered paraglider from Ukraine entered Moldova's airspace at 13:13 local time on October 26, 2026, the Moldova Ministry of Defence said. It was located at 13:32 near Larga village. AirVeto counts it as the only crewed aircraft to cross into Moldovan airspace among the 11 events it has reconstructed there this year.

Border police found the pilot about 2 km inside the border, and he asked for asylum, MOLDPRES reported.

The army logged the paraglider at 13:13 and located it 19 minutes later

The Air Operations Centre said the overflight came "from the Chernivtsi direction" in Ukraine at 13:13. It located the aircraft at 13:32, near Larga in Briceni District, in Moldova's north. That is a 19-minute gap by AirVeto's arithmetic on the ministry's two times.

The ministry's release adds that border police were investigating the illegal crossing. Larga is 67.5 km from Chernivtsi in a straight line, by AirVeto's measurement.

The release gives a direction, not a flight path. No source publishes the pilot's take-off point or route.

Ukrainian authorities spotted him first, and Moldovan police found him 2 km in

According to the Border Police, Ukrainian authorities told their Moldovan counterparts that a person was flying illegally across the border on the Chernivtsi to Larga route. Officers of the Larga sector then searched and found a Ukrainian citizen about two kilometres from the state border. During checks he asked for asylum in Moldova, MOLDPRES and IPN reported.

Police have not said who he is or why he crossed. The Border Police said they were continuing their inquiries into the circumstances.

MOLDPRES published photographs with the Border Police statement. They show a red-and-white canopy spread across a ploughed field and a backpack engine unit on a paved yard.

Outlets quote the same release with different aircraft names

The army's own release on army.md says "motoparapantă", a powered paraglider. Radio Chișinău and MOLDPRES use the same word. Unimedia, quoting what it presents as the ministry's text, writes "motodeltoplan", a powered hang glider. The Border Police wording, relayed by MOLDPRES, is a motorised "parapantă". The photographs show a paraglider canopy, which fits that wording.

Wind at 500 m was light from the south-southeast

At 13:00 local time on October 26, the wind at 500 m blew from the SSE at 17 km/h. At 2,000 m it came from the SSW at 19 km/h. At 3,000 m it came from the SW at 33 km/h.

The altitude of the flight is not published. The 500 m layer is the lowest AirVeto's model reports. AirVeto built this reconstruction from the Moldovan Ministry of Defence release, MOLDPRES and IPN reports, and its own wind-model data for the event window.

The ten earlier Moldovan events this year were drones or missiles

AirVeto has reconstructed ten earlier Moldovan airspace events in 2026, from Kopanka on July 12 to Chiștelnița on October 23. Nine were drones or missiles, and one was a flight delayed by a drone. None was a crewed aircraft crossing the border.

Larga lies in the north of the country, away from the Chiștelnița and Brănești sites in the centre. The next step is the Border Police inquiry and the asylum decision. See also AirVeto's methodology.