--- title: "Powerful explosion near Chișinău: Moldova police search for the source, Defense Ministry reports no airspace violations" description: "On the night of September 18, a powerful explosion was heard near Chișinău, in the village of Colonica. Moldova police are searching for the source, while the Defense Ministry stated that no airspace violation was recorded." date: 2026-09-18T09:16:01.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/moldova-kolonica-powerful-explosion-near-chisinau tags: [moldova, explosion, chisinau, police, drone, security] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Powerful explosion near Chișinău: Moldova police search for the source, Defense Ministry reports no airspace violations ![Night explosion near Chisinau: bright flames and smoke plumes against a dark sky](https://xab.info/media/2026/09/19/moldova-kolonitsa-moshchnyy-vzryv-blizki-kishineva/moldova-kolonitsa-moshchnyy-vzryv-blizki-kishineva-1.webp) ## 🎯 Key Points - On the night of September 18, around 4 a.m., a powerful explosion was heard near Chișinău, in the village of Colonica. - Police inspected Colonica, Humulești, Dolinene, and Maximovka but found no traces of the explosion; drones were deployed. - The Defense Ministry of Moldova recorded no airspace violations on the night of September 18. - The mayor of Colonica claims the explosion did not occur on the territory of her village; the exact cause is unknown. On the night of September 18, a powerful explosion was heard near Chișinău, in the area of the Moldovan village of Colonica. Local residents reported it to the police at approximately four in the morning. According to the General Inspectorate of the Police of Moldova and local media, as cited by RBC-Ukraine, the loud sound was heard in the southwestern part of the village of Colonica, in the direction of the village of Tohatino. At the time of publication, the exact cause of the incident had not been established, and the search for the source was ongoing. ### Timeline and law enforcement actions Immediately after receiving reports from residents, police officers went to the scene and inspected the settlements of Colonica and Humulești, but found no visible traces of an explosion there. Additional checks, according to available information, are being carried out in the villages of Dolinene and Maximovka. The head of the General Inspectorate of the Police, Viorel Cernăuțeanu, told journalists that security forces are reviewing video footage to precisely establish the epicenter, and did not rule out that "we may have to check several more areas." Additional units have been dispatched to the scene, and unmanned aerial vehicles have been deployed to search for the source of the explosion. ### Defense Ministry position and the airspace mystery In response to a query from the NewsMaker publication, the Ministry of Defense of Moldova reported that no violation of the country's airspace was recorded on the night of September 18. This creates a contradictory picture: a powerful explosion, heard by residents of several villages, was not accompanied by any record of an object entering the airspace. According to open comments, the department is "in the process of clarifying the circumstances." Thus, no official version — from a technical malfunction to a sabotage incident — has been confirmed. ### Contradictory data The statements of the parties contain inconsistencies regarding the location and the exact time. The mayor of the village of Colonica, Angela Zaporojyan, clarified that the explosion itself did not occur on the territory of her settlement, whereas the police were the first to include Colonica and the neighboring villages in the inspection zone and found no traces there. In addition, different wordings date the incident as "the night of September 18" and "on the night of September 18," which creates a discrepancy in determining the specific hour. So far, no version regarding the location and cause has been reconciled, and both perspectives — "the explosion was not in Colonica" and "the inspection of Colonica yielded no results" — remain open. ### Context: drones and sabotage risks The incident is occurring against a backdrop of heightened alertness: a few days earlier, Moldovan authorities had temporarily closed part of the airspace due to a drone that strayed in from Ukraine, which caused several flights to be delayed. Previously, the head of the Information and Security Service of Moldova had reported that, according to the service's data, the Kremlin is recruiting Moldovan citizens for 20–100 euros for sabotage tasks, a significant portion of which is linked to Ukraine. These circumstances do not confirm the sabotage version of the explosion, but they explain why law enforcement and military are approaching the investigation with maximum caution. By the morning of September 19, about six hours after the incident, no official conclusions on the cause of the explosion had been announced. The police and the Defense Ministry are continuing their joint work, and the situation remains open and will be updated as confirmed data becomes available. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [Mysterious explosion in Moldova: police inspect villages near Chișinău (video)](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/moldovi-progrimiv-zagadkoviy-vibuh-politsiya-1789722839.html) - Основной источник: время (~4 утра), локализация (Колоница/Тогатино), действия полиции, цитаты мэра и главы ГИП. - [Defense Ministry on the explosion in Colonica: "We are in the process of clarifying the circumstances"](https://noi.md/ru/obshhestvo/ministerstvo-oborony-o-vzryve-v-kolonice-my-nahodimsya-v-processe-vyyasneniya-obstoyatelistv) - Подтверждает позицию Минобороны о том, что обстоятельства выясняются. - [Airspace is clear, but there was an explosion: Moldova's Defense Ministry comments on the incident near ...](https://from-ua.org/news/704315-vozdusnoe-prostranstvo-cistoe-a-vzryv-byl-minoborony-moldovy-prokommentirovalo-incident-pod-kisinevom.html) - Подтверждает отсутствие зафиксированного нарушения воздушного пространства при наличии взрыва. - [Mysterious drone with explosives: Why did Moldova not record a violation?](https://my.ua/news/cluster/2026-09-19-tainstvennyi-dron-so-vzryvchatkoi-pochemu-moldova-ne-zafiksirovala-narushenie) - Заголовок предполагает дрон со взрывчаткой, но в фактах это не подтверждено; использовано лишь как контекст гипотезы, не как факт. ## ❓ FAQ ### Q: Where and when did the explosion in Moldova occur? **A:** According to police and local media reports, a powerful explosion was heard on the night of September 18, at approximately four in the morning, in the southwestern part of the village of Colonica, in the direction of the village of Tohatino, near Chișinău. The exact location had not been established at the time of publication. ### Q: Have the causes of the explosion been established? **A:** No. As of the morning of September 19, the cause had not been officially named. Police are reviewing video footage, inspecting several villages, and using drones to search for the source. ### Q: Did the Defense Ministry record an airspace violation? **A:** No. The Ministry of Defense of Moldova stated that no airspace violation was recorded on the night of September 18, while the department is in the process of clarifying the circumstances of the incident. ### Q: Has the drone or sabotage version been confirmed? **A:** No, no version has been officially confirmed. A drone and a sabotage nature are mentioned only as a possible context against the backdrop of a recent incident with a strayed drone and statements about sabotage risks, but not as an established fact.