BUCHAREST, Romania — For years, the war between Russia and Ukraine has been spilling across Romania’s border, with drones repeatedly violating the airspace of the neighboring EU and NATO nation. Now, Romania has decided it has had enough — and is shooting them down.
Romanian Air Force pilots launched from F-16 fighter jets to intercept three separate drones over three consecutive days beginning last Friday, as Russia stepped up attacks against Ukraine near the border. Once officials confirmed the drones had come from Russia, the Romanian government called in Moscow’s ambassador to register a formal protest and expelled a Russian diplomat on Monday, giving that person five days to leave the country.
Drone crossings into Romanian territory have occurred numerous times, most recently in May when a drone crashed into an apartment building in the eastern town of Galati along the Danube River, injuring a mother and her child. Prior to the new shoot-down policy, Romanian authorities typically responded by scrambling jets, gathering wreckage, constructing fallout shelters near the border, and issuing repeated condemnations of Russia.
According to Romania’s Ministry of National Defense, at least 19 drones have entered Romanian airspace so far this year, and 50 cases involving drones or drone fragments have been documented on Romanian soil since the war began in 2022. Drones have crossed into several EU countries, but the problem has been especially persistent for Romania’s leadership in Bucharest.
Romania and Poland had previously acquired the MEROPS system — a counter-drone technology that fires short projectiles to neutralize incoming stray drones — following a wave of incursions along NATO’s eastern edge late last year. Despite passing a law last year authorizing the shooting down of drones in its airspace — legislation that faced strong opposition from nationalist political parties — Romania held off on using that authority until now.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan praised the pilots on Sunday for successfully intercepting the drones and placed the blame squarely on Russia.
