A Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down an intruding drone over uninhabited terrain near the village of Padina in Buzău county on July 24, marking the country's first such interception since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Surveillance systems detected the target at 9:39 a.m. roughly 20 km east of the Black Sea port of Sulina. Two Italian Eurofighter Typhoons and two Romanian F-16s were scrambled, with one pilot from the 86th Air Base engaging the drone with an air-to-air missile at approximately 11:02 local time. President Nicusor Dan confirmed the incident, noting the area was unpopulated.
The strike followed a massive Russian overnight barrage targeting Ukraine with 180 drones and five missiles. Romania had previously endured a May drone strike on an apartment building that wounded two, and a 2025 legal framework enabled Thursday's military response.