Reuters —
Romania’s Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that a Spanish F-18 fighter pilot on a NATO air security mission shot down an unmanned aircraft that had illegally violated Romanian airspace, making it the fourth drone the country has shot down this year.
The NATO nation shares a 614 km (382 mile) land border with Ukraine, and over the past four years Russian drones have repeatedly violated its airspace and sea mines have been spotted floating in the Black Sea, crossing key trade and energy routes.
The ministry did not say where the drone came from, but said radar had detected the drone had entered the country from neighboring Moldova, about 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galati.
The ministry said in a statement that the F-18 fighter jet “made radar contact with the target and received clearance to engage.” “The drone was successfully shot down at 5:01 a.m.”
The ministry said the debris appeared to have fallen in an uninhabited area between two villages.
In July, Romanian F-16 fighter pilots shot down three Russian drones in the first violation of the country’s airspace after dozens of similar incursions in more than four years of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this year, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the city of Galasy during an overnight attack on neighboring Ukraine, injuring two people.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
