Romanian officials said one of their air force F-16s shot down a Russian UAV after it breached NATO airspace, the third such incident in three days.
The Romanian Ministry of National Defense said in a July 26 statement that the drone was safely shot down some 7 miles northeast of Sulina, within Romania’s territorial waters.
Romania, a NATO member, shares a 400-mile land border with Ukraine, and Russian UAVs have repeatedly violated its airspace during the more than four-year Ukraine war.
Russia is now stepping up attacks on Ukrainian ports across the Danube River.
Russia Blamed
Romanian President Nicusor Dan said in an X post on July 26 that the UAV shot down on Friday was a Shahed drone, used by Russia in its attacks on Ukraine.
He said that investigations into the origin of the drones shot down on Saturday and Sunday were ongoing.
“Romania’s diplomatic protest against the Russian Federation will be based on these investigations,” Dan said.
“It is inadmissible and intolerable for the Russian Federation to continue violating Romania’s airspace, which is, at the same time, NATO airspace and European Union airspace. Such actions are unacceptable, and we treat them with the utmost seriousness, alongside our allies.”
NATO said additional details of Sunday’s incident were under investigation.
“The shootdowns come as NATO, Romania, and other nations actively acquire ground-based interceptors to enhance allied and national air defense capabilities,” said U.S. Army Col. Martin O'Donnell, spokesman for NATO’s military headquarters.
Romania Dismisses Russian Ambassador
The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a July 27 statement that it had summoned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, to discuss the incidents.
The ministry said the call came “as a firm reaction to the repeated violations of Romania’s airspace” between July 24 and 26, during which the Romanian military “shot down three drones that had entered the national territory without authorization.”
Lipaev was shown pieces of the UAV destroyed over Romanian territory, which initial investigations conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed were of Russian origin, the statement said.
“It was emphasized that it is absolutely inadmissible and intolerable for the Russian Federation to continue violating Romanian airspace, which is equally NATO and European Union airspace,” the ministry said.
“The Romanian side highlighted that the Russian Federation bears sole responsibility for all these serious incidents and for the deterioration of the regional security environment.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had dismissed the Russian ambassador and gave Lipaev five days to leave Romania.
‘Propaganda Stunt’
Lipaev protested the alleged Russian violations of Romanian airspace.
“It’s clear that this is a propaganda stunt, the purpose of which is to prevent further attacks by Russian armed forces on Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube and the Black Sea, which is actively used by NATO to supply weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces through Romanian territory,” the ambassador told Russian state-run news agency TASS on July 27.
Lipaev said Bucharest had leveled “unfounded, unsubstantiated accusations against Russia,” had not disclosed technical details of the drones that would allow them to be identified, and had not provided evidence of their origin.
“The unjustified expulsion of an embassy employee will not go unanswered by Russia,” Lipaev said.
