Romania Shoots Down Drone That Violated Its Airspace

A Spanish F-18 fighter pilot, taking part in a NATO airspace patrol mission, shot down a drone that had illegally entered Romanian airspace. This is the fourth unmanned aircraft the country has shot down this year, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.

The ministry did not specify the drone's origin. Radar systems detected it entering the country from neighboring Moldova, approximately 24 km north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galați.

In a statement, the ministry said an F-18 fighter jet "made radar contact with the target and received permission to engage it". "The drone was shot down safely at 5:01 a.m.," it added, noting that the debris likely fell in an uninhabited area between two villages.

Earlier this year, during a nighttime attack on neighboring Ukraine, a Russian drone struck an apartment building in Galați, injuring two people.

(Reuters, SU)