Romania shoots down drone breaching its airspace - defence ministry

Bucharest, Romania: A Spanish F-18 fighter jet pilot, part of a NATO air policing mission, brought down an unauthorized drone that had unlawfully entered Romanian national airspace, according to the country's defense ministry. This marks the fourth time this year that Romania has successfully shot down a drone, the ministry reported on Sunday.

The neighboring nation shares a 614-kilometer (382-mile) land border with Ukraine, and has faced repeated breaches of its airspace by Russian drones over the past four years. The ministry did not disclose the drone's exact point of origin, stating that its radars identified the intruder as coming from Moldova, approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galati.

The F-18 jet was given radar permission to engage the target, and the drone was safely shot down at 05:01 am, according to the ministry. The fragments of the downed drone were found in an uninhabited area between two villages. In July, Romanian F-16 fighter jet pilots intercepted and shot down three Russian drones that had breached Romanian airspace for the first time since dozens of such intrusions occurred during Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this year, a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Galati during an overnight attack on neighboring Ukraine, injuring two people.