Romania drone downed by Spanish F-18, officials say

A Spanish F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone that breached Romanian airspace near the borders with Ukraine and Moldova on Sunday, Romania's defence ministry and NATO said.

The Romanian defence ministry said the drone entered from Moldova and was intercepted at 5:01 a.m. local time, or 0201 GMT, by an F-18 deployed on NATO duties. It said debris fell in an unpopulated area of the Galati region, near the Ukrainian border.

NATO Air Command said the mission involved two Spanish F-18s. It said the jets are part of a Spanish contingent of about 200 personnel and 11 aircraft based in Romania.

Spain's defence ministry said on X that its air force had shown "outstanding professionalism in the defence of European airspace". Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he had spoken with Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu, who thanked the pilots.

Romania's defence ministry also announced a separate incident on Sunday in which drone debris was found in the Black Sea off the city of Constanta.

Romanian authorities said the downed drone was the fourth destroyed in the country since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Romania's eastern seaboard, bordering the Black Sea, is close to areas frequently targeted by Russian strikes.

Authorities have reported finding drone fragments on Romanian soil several times since 2023 after Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports along the Danube River, which lie just across the border. In July, Romania expelled a Russian embassy employee in what it called "a firm response" to drones repeatedly breaching its airspace.

Similar incidents have been reported elsewhere on NATO's eastern flank, including in Poland and the Baltic states. NATO said on Friday that Italian jets operating under the alliance's air-policing mission shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace.