- Romania shot down a drone in its airspace for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
- Drone was intercepted around 114 kilometres from Bucharest and downed over the village of Padina.
- Surveillance detected the target at 9:39 am; Italian Eurofighters and Romanian F-16s were sent to monitor.
- A Romanian F-16 engaged and shot down the drone around 11:02 am; area was uninhabited so pilot fired from above.
- Dozens of previous drone incursions; in May a drone hit an apartment building, wounding two, NATO and EU blamed Russia.
Romania shot down a drone in its airspace on Friday, its president said, a first since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The drone was shot down around 114 kilometres (70 miles) from Bucharest, according to the defence ministry of the NATO member bordering Ukraine.
“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.
The drone was shot down over the village of Padina, the defence ministry said.
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.
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.
