Romania Shoots Down Another Drone, Scrambles F-16 Jets

On Saturday, Romania shot down its second drone in two days after it violated the country's airspace near the border with Ukraine. The incident took place in a sparsely populated area of the Danube Delta near the town of Sfantu Gheorghe. The military detected the object on radar and scrambled two F-16 fighter jets.

Authorities have not yet disclosed the origin of Saturday's drone, but investigators say the drone shot down on Friday belonged to Russia.

This is the first time that Romania, as a NATO member, has shot down drones following dozens of previous airspace violations since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to Bucharest, Moscow has violated Romanian airspace approximately 30 times during attacks on Ukrainian ports along the Danube.

The chief of the Romanian armed forces also noted that Russian attacks on the Odesa region have intensified ahead of the harvest, increasing pressure on energy and trade routes in the Black Sea.

(Reuters, mja)