An F-16 fighter jet of the Romanian Air Force destroyed a drone this Saturday that had penetrated the country’s airspace over the Danube Delta, the second unmanned aerial vehicle neutralized in less than 24 hours. The aircraft was intercepted near the town of Sfantu Gheorghe, on the Black Sea coast and close to the border with Ukraine, which has been embroiled in a bloody war since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
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Romanian authorities reported that the drone was shot down over an uninhabited area, so no casualties or material damage were recorded. “This morning, at 8:30 local time [one hour less in peninsular Spain], a new drone was shot down in Romanian airspace, 10 kilometers west of the city of Sfantu Gheorghe. The drone was shot down by a Romanian pilot from an F-16 aircraft,” wrote the country’s president, Nicusor Dan, in a message published on Facebook.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the aircraft was detected at 08:22 by military radars. “Two F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, belonging to the Air Police combat service, intercepted the target and executed standard identification and neutralization procedures,” the department stated in a press release.
The incident occurred in the vicinity of Sfantu Gheorghe, a popular tourist destination during the summer due to its location in Europe’s largest wetland, on the Black Sea coast, although also one of the areas most exposed to the effects of the Russian offensive as it is barely 35 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The drone was shot down by the same pilot who on Friday neutralized another unmanned aerial vehicle over Buzau province, in southeastern Romania. In that case, the aircraft fell on a cereal cultivation area and also caused no casualties or material damage.
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The Romanian General Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that it was a Shahed Geran-2, a model used by the Russian army in its attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and ports. “The identified drone was a Shahed-type device and was shot down by an F-16 aircraft piloted by a Romanian serviceman, without endangering human lives or property,” the Prosecutor’s Office stated. The aircraft was shot down 12 minutes after entering Romanian airspace, while the previous drone was shot down after a flight of one hour and 23 minutes.
The head of the Romanian General Staff, General Gheorghita Vlad, explained on Friday that the aircraft “was not for reconnaissance or surveillance,” so it cannot be ruled out that it was carrying an explosive charge, a circumstance that has not yet been confirmed. The military command also warned that the country’s security situation will remain critical and defended the need to allocate more resources to face this type of threat. However, he considered it unlikely that Romania would become a direct target of Russia.
The drone incursion prompted the activation of public alerts and provoked reactions from both the Romanian Government and European officials, including the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who congratulated the army on the operation.
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sibiha, condemned the violation of Romanian airspace by a Russian drone and assured that such incidents demonstrate the Kremlin’s disregard for international law and European security. “We condemn the attack with a Russian drone that violated the airspace of Romania, sovereign territory of an EU member state and NATO ally. It is a clear demonstration of the Kremlin’s total disregard for international law, national sovereignty and European security,” the Ukrainian minister wrote on the social network X.
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