Romania shoots down third Russian drone over Black Sea

Romanian forces have shot down three Russian drones in three consecutive days, marking a significant shift in the NATO member's response to repeated airspace violations amid escalating attacks on nearby Ukrainian ports. The latest incident occurred on July 26, when an F-16 fighter jet safely destroyed a drone approximately 12 kilometers northeast of the coastal town of Sulina over Romanian territorial waters.

President Nicușor Dan condemned the incursions as "inadmissible and intolerable," stating that such actions violate not only Romanian sovereignty but also NATO and European Union territory. He emphasized that Romania treats the breaches with the utmost seriousness alongside its allies. The first drone was shot down on July 24, identified by officials as a Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle, a model commonly used by Russian forces. Investigations into the drones downed on July 25 and July 26 are ongoing, with prosecutors having recovered fragments from the first incident.

This series of shootdowns represents a clear change in Romania's military posture. For more than four years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Romanian forces had monitored at least 33...