The breakaway region of Transnistria, along the border between Moldova and Ukraine, has claimed to have shot down a surveillance drone which entered their airspace from Ukrainian territory.
Transnistrian officials said they believe it was launched by officials linked to Ukraine’s Right Sector, a neo-Nazi movement they say has been trying to inflate tensions with the tiny border region, though they later said it may have been launched by people related to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Ukraine has yet to address the matter, and there was no indication what sort of drone it may have been, beyond the Transnistrian statement saying they were videoing the area.
Moldova, for its part, mocked the claim, and said they don’t think Transnistria has any air defenses to begin with. Moldova insists Transnistria is part of their country, but the breakaway region operates independent, with Russian troops preventing a Moldovan takeover.
We need to learn whether a drone was actually downed and if so, did that happen inside or outside the so-called "security zone".
"said they believe it was launched by officials linked to Ukraine’s Right Sector, a neo-Nazi movement they say has been trying to inflate tensions with the tiny border region, though they later said it may have been launched by people related to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry."
That is the same thing. The neo-Nazis were given the defense ministry in the new Cabinet, along with the police (Interior Ministry) and the Chief Prosecutor's Office.
The idea that anybody in Ukraine has a drone is laughable. The idea that Transnistria has anything capable of shooting down a drone is equally laughable. Transnsitria is trying to provoke Putin into invading eastern and southern Ukraine so as to annex them. If Putin is stupid enough to invade Ukraine, it won't be for the sake of Transnistria!
Mr. Kenny, you really need to begin reading more carefully what is reported. What has been reported as a fact (only reported, not necessarily proven) is that a drone entered the Transnistrian airspace from Ukraine. It does not say that the drone was launched from Ukraine. It could have been launched from Rumania, reached Ukraine via the Black Sea, then into Transnistria. It does not say that the done was owned (=had) by anybody in Ukraine. In other words, it is still unknown who "owned" this drone, who launched it, and why, if there was a drone.
It is also crucial to know whether a drone, if there was one, was downed inside our outside the so-called demilitarized zone in which safety is the task of a joint commission of Russia, Moldavia, and Transnistra.
Hence the question whether a drone could have been downed is more complex than your statement "The idea that Transnistria has anything capable of shooting down a drone is equally laughable" which is actually not your wisdom but that of the government of Moldova. One must take into account that Transnistria is mostly less than 50 km wide. It has a population density of some 52 per square kilometer which is not high but the population is spread out into the countryside. A drone might not have remained undetected for long. If the drone flew at a low altitude a Kalashnikov might have brought it down. If it flew higher but in the demilitarized zone a Russian security guard might have had a hand-held missile. It is less likely but not impossible that it might have been shot down with a missile launched from Moldova if it flew too close to its border. The statement by the government of Moldova seems to imply that it has the means to shoot down drones.
I agree with your statement that Russia will not risk anything for Transnistria.