NATO jet shoots down drone over Romania

A Spanish fighter jet flying a NATO air policing mission shot down a drone that crossed into Romanian airspace near Ukraine and Moldova on Sunday, Romania’s Defence Ministry said, as Russian attacks killed at least one person in Ukraine and wounded several others.

The ministry said the drone illegally entered Romania early Sunday from Moldova and was intercepted by a Spanish F-18 deployed on NATO duties. Debris fell in an unpopulated area near the Ukrainian border, officials said. The ministry did not specify the drone’s origin.

The incident adds to a series of drone incursions over countries bordering Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Authorities have often blamed such episodes on electronic interference tied to the war. In some cases, officials have said Ukrainian drones were “hijacked” by Russian forces.

Romania has reported finding drone fragments on its territory several times since 2023 after Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports along the Danube River, which runs near the Romanian border. Romania shares a 634-kilometer, or 394-mile, border with Ukraine and has repeatedly seen drones breach its airspace as Moscow has expanded attacks on Ukrainian civilian and military infrastructure.

Al Jazeera reported that Sunday’s interception was the fourth drone shot down in Romania this year. In July, a Romanian jet shot down a suspected Russian drone, and in May a stray drone injured two people in the Romanian city of Galati when it struck a building. CBS News reported that Romania shot down a drone last month for the first time since the start of Russia’s invasion after it entered the country’s airspace about 60 miles from Bucharest.

Drone incidents have also affected other NATO and neighboring countries. Last week, Ukraine denied targeting Bulgaria after a drone crossed into Bulgarian airspace and exploded near an international gas pipeline shortly after entering from Romania. In June, Latvia’s military said two NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace. Ukrainian drones have previously crashed in all three Baltic states, whose officials blamed the incidents on Russian electronic warfare.

The Romanian interception came as Russia continued long-range strikes across Ukraine. A woman was killed and six people were wounded in a missile and drone attack on Kryvyi Rig, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the regional governor said early Sunday.

Authorities in Kyiv said the capital was “under ballistic missile attack” late Saturday. One person was wounded, and fires broke out at non-residential sites in the Obolonsky and Holosiivskyi districts.

Russia has maintained near-daily missile and drone attacks across Ukraine since early 2022, with areas far from the front line frequently hit. The war’s effects have also reached regional shipping lanes, with reports of mines and unmanned sea drones found floating in the Black Sea.

Civilian casualties in Ukraine reached their highest level since 2022 in July, when at least 437 people were killed and 2,610 were injured, according to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission.

Russian officials, meanwhile, reported a large Ukrainian drone incursion overnight Sunday. Moscow officials said more than 100 drones heading toward the capital were downed. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said emergency services were sent to debris sites and that three people were wounded.

Ukraine has increasingly struck military, industrial and logistical facilities deep inside Russia, saying those attacks are a response to Moscow’s bombardment of Ukrainian towns and infrastructure.