Romania has shot down a third drone in three days as the country faces a growing number of unmanned aircraft incidents linked to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan said an F-16 fighter jet intercepted and destroyed a drone over Romania’s territorial waters on Sunday morning. The incident occurred at about 10:13 a.m. in the Sulina-Chilia area of the Danube Delta, close to the Ukrainian border.
“I would like to congratulate the Romanian pilots and ground crews on the professionalism, courage and efficiency with which they carry out their missions,” Dan wrote on social media.
Romanian authorities had reported another drone being shot down by an F-16 on Saturday. The aircraft was intercepted around 10 kilometres west of the village of Sfântu Gheorghe in eastern Romania.
The Defence Ministry said two fighter jets had been sent to identify and intercept the target. The drone was then destroyed in an unpopulated area near the border.
A third drone was shot down by a Romanian F-16 at around 11 a.m. on Friday.
Romania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has determined that the drone destroyed on Friday was a Shahed-type aircraft used by Russian forces in their war against Ukraine. Investigations into the drones shot down on Saturday and Sunday remain ongoing.
Dan said it was “intolerable” for Russia to continue violating Romanian airspace.
“Such actions are unacceptable and we are treating them with the utmost seriousness, alongside our allies,” he said.
Romania, a NATO member on the alliance’s eastern flank, has faced growing security concerns because of its position along the Black Sea and its border with Ukraine. The country has reported an increasing number of drone incidents since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In May, a Russian drone carrying explosives crashed into an apartment building in Galați, causing a fire on the roof and injuring two people.
A month later, a Ukrainian sea drone exploded in the Romanian port of Constanta. Ukraine’s military said the vessel had veered off course after Russian electronic warfare interference.
The repeated incidents have increased concerns in Bucharest over the possibility of the war spilling across national borders, even as Romania and its NATO allies continue to strengthen surveillance and air defence measures in the region.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has described such incidents as a direct consequence of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The latest drone activity has placed further pressure on Romanian authorities to monitor the country’s airspace and territorial waters as fighting continues across the border.
