Romania Shoots Down Second Drone in Two Days Near Ukraine Border
Romania said on Saturday that it had shot down a second drone breaching its national airspace in as many days, this time over a sparsely populated area near the border with Ukraine. The incident came a day after the NATO member state downed another drone, marking the first time Romania has taken such action following dozens of incursions since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The second drone was shot down at 8:30 a.m. (0530 GMT), approximately 10 km (6 miles) west of Sfantu Gheorghe in the Danube Delta, according to a social media post by President Nicusor Dan. The defense ministry said the airspace breach had been detected by radar at 8:22 a.m., prompting the scrambling of two F-16 fighter jets. The ministry did not specify the origin of Saturday's drone; however, prosecutors investigating the fragments of the first drone downed on Friday said it had been Russian.
Later on Friday, NATO Air Command confirmed that a drone had been shot down by allied fighters under NATO command and control in Romanian airspace. The alliance said an investigation was ongoing and that it remained in close contact with Romanian authorities.
Airspace breaches on NATO's eastern flank have fueled concerns that the alliance's borders are at risk as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, has reported around 30 breaches of its airspace by Russian drones since Moscow began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube River after its 2022 invasion.
The Romanian army's chief of staff, General Gheorghita Vlad, told a news conference that Bucharest had not yet identified the origin or purpose of the drone downed on Friday, with an investigation underway. However, he said it appeared to be a Shahed drone—the Iran-designed attack drones used by Russia against Ukraine. "Visually, the pilots reported the drone looked to be a Shahed type," he said, adding it was too soon to draw conclusions.
Earlier in the day, an army source told Reuters: "There is an ongoing investigation to determine the origin of the drone. But in this part of the world it is Russia that is the attacker."
President Dan wrote on social media platform X that a Romanian pilot had shot down the first drone at about 11 a.m. after it entered the country's airspace. "The area was uninhabited, so the pilot was able to shoot without any risk," he said. "Currently, teams of the relevant institutions are investigating the area to come up with all the details."
The incidents bring renewed attention to the security of NATO's eastern border. In May, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the southeastern Romanian town of Galati, near the Ukrainian border, injuring two people. That was the first time a strike had hit a densely populated area in a NATO country.
Investigators have yet to determine the origin of Saturday's drone, but the downing underscores the increased frequency of airspace violations and the response measures being taken by NATO members along the alliance's eastern flank.