A Spanish F-18 fighter jet intercepted and destroyed a drone that violated Romanian airspace early Sunday, the fourth such shootdown over the country this summer.
Romanian Defence Minister Radu Miruta said radars detected the drone entering from Moldova at roughly 04:44 local time, about 24 kilometres north of Galati. The aircraft, scrambled on a NATO air-policing mission, downed the drone at 05:01. A NATO spokesperson said the drone appeared to be Russian, and debris likely fell in an unpopulated area of the Galati region near the Ukrainian border.
Romanian F-16s previously shot down three drones in late July. Separately, Italian NATO fighters downed a drone that entered Latvian airspace on Friday. Since the war began, more than 100 strikes have hit Ukrainian territory near the Romanian border.