A Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone that breached the country's airspace early on Friday, Romanian President Nicusor Dan said, the latest in a series of incursions into the NATO member's airspace.
"We had a drone in our airspace. It was shot down a few minutes ago, around 11:00 am (0800 GMT) by a Romanian pilot flying an F-16," President Nicusor Dan told a press conference.
"It's important to note that the area was uninhabited, which is why the pilot was able to fire from above, and now teams from various institutions are investigating to provide all the details about the incident," he added.
Dan did not specify the origin of the drone.
The drone was shot down around 114 kilometres (70 miles) from Bucharest over the village of Padina in Buzau County, according to the defence ministry of the NATO member bordering Ukraine.
Surveillance systems first detected an aerial target at 9:39 am and two Eurofighter Typhoon jets of the Italian Air Force and two F-16 fighter jets of the Romanian Air Force were sent to monitor the situation.
"At 11:02, a Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft engaged the target and shot it down," the defence ministry said.
Frequent violations
The drone warfare between Russia and Ukraine has intensified, reportedly breaching the airspace of neighbouring countries, including Türkiye, the Baltic states, Finland, Moldova, and Poland, several times.
EU and NATO member Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, has reported multiple breaches of its airspace by Russian drones since Moscow began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube River following its full-scale war in 2022.
Drone incursions in Romania have been detected dozens of times since the start of the Ukraine war, but Romanian forces had so far not successfully shot any down.
A drone smashed into an apartment building in May, wounding two people and drawing condemnation from NATO and the European Union, which blamed Russia and warned against further incursions.
