Romania shoots down Russian drones after repeated Ukraine war incursions

Bucharest,UPDATED: Jul 28, 2026 16:36 IST

Romania has started shooting down drones that enter its airspace from the war in neighbouring Ukraine, marking a clear shift in its response after repeated incursions since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Romanian pilots flying F-16 fighter jets brought down the first of three drones in as many days from Friday, as Russia stepped up attacks near the border.

After determining that the drones were of Russian origin, Romania summoned Moscow's ambassador in protest and expelled a Russian diplomat on Monday. The issue has become a persistent concern for Bucharest, with Romania's Ministry of Defence saying at least 19 drones have entered its airspace this year and there have been 50 cases of drones or drone fragments being identified on its territory since the war began in 2022.

Drones have crossed into Romanian territory multiple times from Ukraine to the north and east, including in May when a drone crashed into an apartment block in the eastern town of Galati along the Danube River, injuring a mother and child. Until now, Romanian authorities had largely responded by scrambling jets, collecting debris, setting up fallout shelters near the border and frequently rebuking Moscow for the war spilling into its territory. Romania and Poland also acquired the MEROPS system, which fires short counter-drones to bring down incoming stray drones, after a series of incursions along NATO's eastern flank late last year.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan congratulated the pilots on Sunday and blamed Russia for the incursions. "It is unacceptable and intolerable for the Russian Federation to continue violating Romanian airspace," he said. Although legislation was passed last year allowing drones in Romanian airspace to be shot down, the move had faced strong opposition from nationalist political parties, and Romania had avoided doing so until now.

Romanian military analyst Radu Tudor said the May incident in Galati may have "changed something in the Romanian authorities' mentality" about how to deal with the problem. "This was somehow a kind of psychological trigger, in order to say: 'OK, enough is enough'," Tudor said. "Until now, it probably was an Allied decision in NATO not to respond with firepower, because it was somehow a danger of escalation." He added: "I think it's not only a change of attitude of Romania, I think it's a change of attitude in NATO." Before the three interceptions over the past week, Romanian pilots had also shot down a stray Ukrainian drone over Estonia in May. Romanian pilots and aircraft are based in Lithuania to provide broad strike capabilities for NATO. Tudor said, "They saw so many signals that Russia is trying to provoke NATO," and added that Romania was "the only NATO country who shot down four drones on the eastern flank - three on Romania and one in Estonia". He said the message to Moscow echoed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's statement at the alliance's summit in Ankara, Turkiye, earlier this month: "Don't play with us".

Romania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned Russia's ambassador in Bucharest on Monday and showed him drone fragments, saying Moscow "bears exclusive responsibility for all these grave incidents". The ministry also expelled a member of the Russian mission and gave him five days to leave the country. Foreign Minister Oana Toiu wrote on X: "The Russian side learned what they already knew: the drones downed on Romanian territory belong to them. Drone fragments recovered by the Ministry of Defence and the ongoing prosecutor investigation confirm their Russian origin beyond any doubt." Russia's embassy in Romania responded on Facebook, saying Russia "has never directed and does not direct combat drones" to Romanian territory and calling the allegation "completely unfounded". It added: "An unprovoked expulsion of a Russian employee will not go unanswered."

Cristian Popovici, the Romanian defence ministry's head of public relations and a former air defence officer, said new tactics had been developed to deal with errant drones. "We recorded more than 100 attacks with drones near our border with Ukraine, and many of them resulted in debris or even drones that penetrated our airspace," he said. "Our pilots and our air force, we developed the tactics, procedures, and now we can face and we can eliminate this threat." He said that after Romanian pilots shot down a drone over Estonian airspace, the military applied "lessons learned" and had a "100 per cent rate success in three days with three drones". At the same time, he said Romania was not looking to get drawn into the war. "We are in a peacetime, we are not involved in this fight," Popovici said. "If Russia wants to escalate with NATO, it's up to them. I'm not sure it's a wise move now." In summary, Romania has moved from monitoring and protesting drone incursions to actively bringing them down, while insisting it does not want to become involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

With PTI Inputs

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