Spanish F-18 fighter jets serving on a NATO air defence mission shot down a suspected Russian drone after it entered Romanian airspace early Sunday, Romanian authorities said.
Romania’s Defence Ministry said surveillance systems first detected the aircraft at 4:44am local time, around 24 kilometres north of the southeastern city of Galati. The drone had entered the country from the direction of neighbouring Moldova.
Two Spanish F-18s, which had already been deployed from Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base as a precaution, established radar contact with the target and were subsequently authorised to engage it.
The aircraft destroyed the drone at approximately 5:01am over an unpopulated area, with the operation coordinated through NATO’s Combined Air Operations Center in Torrejon, Spain.
Authorities identified an area between Baleni and Cudalbi in Galati County as a possible location for falling debris. Helicopters were deployed to search for the wreckage.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property.
NATO said investigators had not yet definitively established where the drone originated, although preliminary indications pointed towards Russia.
“Further details of Sunday’s incident remain under investigation, but the drone appears to be Russian,” NATO spokesperson Col. Martin O’Donnell said.
Romania’s acting Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said NATO allies had been notified, stressing the country’s position on the alliance and European Union’s eastern frontier.
“Romania is on the front line of NATO and European Union border defense,” she said, adding that Bucharest would continue strengthening defence and deterrence along the eastern flank.
According to Toiu, Sunday’s incident marked the third time in three weeks that a drone had illegally entered Romanian airspace and been shot down.