Romanian President Nicusor Dan said on the 24th of July that a Romanian F-16 fighter jet had shot down a drone that had entered country’s airspace, Reuters reports.
This is the first time Romania has shot down a drone in its airspace, but there have been previous violations. The president did not specify the origin of the drone, and said an investigation is underway. A military source told Reuters that an investigation is underway to determine the origin of the drone, but that in this part of the world the attacker was Russia.
Poland and the Baltic states have also experienced drones entering their airspace. Dan wrote on the X website that the drone was shot down at around 11:00 a.m. local time. The president wrote that the violation was detected in an uninhabited area, so it was possible to shoot it down without posing a risk.
Authorities are currently investigating the scene to provide more details about the incident.
The Romanian Defense Ministry said the drone was shot down near Padina in the east of the country. Two Romanian F-16 fighter jets and two Italian Eurofighter Typhoons based in the country were scrambled in response to the airspace violation. The violation was detected at 9:30 a.m. about 20 kilometers east of the Black Sea coastal city of Sulina. A fragment of the drone crashed into a cornfield, and there were no injuries.
Romania, which shares a 650-kilometer border with Ukraine, has repeatedly reported airspace violations since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country in 2022 and regularly carries out strikes on Ukrainian ports. In late May, a drone crashed into a residential building in Galati.
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