Romanian F-16 Downs Suspected Russian Drone After 20km Black Sea Airspace Breach

3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Jul 24

A Romanian F-16 fired an air-to-air missile at a suspected Russian drone and brought it down near Padina after it crossed into Romanian airspace; no casualties were reported.
Radar first tracked the drone about 20km east of Sulina before it flew through Braila, Fetesti and Buzau county, prompting two Romanian F-16s and two Italian Eurofighters on NATO duty to respond.
President Nicusor Dan said the shootdown was Romania's first successful interception of an intruding aircraft since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, after dozens of earlier drone incursions.
The breach follows a late-May drone strike on an apartment building in Galati that injured two people and a June Ukrainian sea drone blast at Constanta, sharpening NATO fears that the war could spill further across its eastern flank.