NATO fighter jet shoots down drone over Romania

Two Spanish F-18 fighter jets deployed in Romania as part of a NATO mission have neutralized an unidentified drone near the Moldovan border, Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruca said, Euronews reported.

The unidentified aerial target was detected at 04:44 local time, 24 kilometers north of the city of Galati. After that, two F-18 fighters, which were on high alert, were ordered to intercept the target. The origin of the drone has not yet been determined. The Romanian military intercepted and neutralized it in the area between the settlements of Baleni and Kudolbi in the southeast of the country, close to the Moldovan border.

The Defense Minister expressed gratitude to the Spanish pilots and the military personnel serving at the Romanian command center. "Romania is defending its airspace," Miruca said. He stressed that the support of NATO allies is a guarantee of security based on surveillance, rapid response and solidarity between the alliance countries. The minister noted that Romania is one of the countries on the European Union's defense front. The country shares a land border with Ukraine of about 614 kilometers.

**Incidents in Romanian airspace**

The drone's entry into Romanian airspace came amid another nightly exchange of strikes between Russia and Ukraine. Russian strikes on Kiev caused major fires in the city and injured at least two people. Moscow, however, said it had been hit by more than 600 drones launched by Ukraine, injuring three people on Russian territory.

This is not the first such incident recorded in Romanian airspace in recent weeks. Last Thursday, two Spanish F-18 fighter jets were scrambled after an unidentified aircraft was spotted near a river on the border with Ukraine. The drone was in Romanian territory for about 12 minutes, then turned back towards Ukraine. A day later, another drone flew over Romanian airspace at a very low altitude and was not detected by radar. The device crashed into the country's territory. Tensions then flared up in the Baltics, with allied fighters shooting down another drone over Latvia.

In early August, an unidentified aircraft that had entered Romanian territory exploded in Bulgarian airspace near the Romanian border. One of the most serious incidents occurred on May 29. Then a Russian drone hit a residential building in the city of Galati, causing a fire and injuring two people. NATO assessed the incident as an irresponsible escalation by Russia. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at the time that the alliance was ready to defend every inch of allied territory from such threats.