Bucharest, July 26 (dpa/GNA) – The Romanian air force shot down unidentified drones that entered its airspace over the weekend, the Defence Ministry in Bucharest reported on Sunday.
After a Romanian F-16 fighter jet destroyed an unidentified drone with a missile in eastern Romania on Friday, the air force carried out further drone interceptions, one on Saturday and another on Sunday morning.
The Defence Ministry said the drones had entered Romanian airspace and were brought down over uninhabited areas with no danger to civilians.
Detailing the incursions, it said a drone was shot down near Sfântu Gheorghe in Tulcea County on Saturday, and another was intercepted near the border town of Sulina in the Danube Delta on Sunday morning. The Romanian authorities have not yet officially confirmed the origin of the drones involved in the latest incidents.
However, prosecutors investigating the drone destroyed on Friday determined from the wreckage that it was a Shahed-type drone. Within the wider region, only Russia is known to operate this type of drone.
Romania shares a roughly 600-kilometre border with Ukraine, which has been warding off a Russian invasion for more than four years.
In recent years, dozens of Russian drones have entered Romanian airspace. To allow the military to respond, Romania introduced new legislation last year authorizing the armed forces to shoot down drones that enter its airspace. The interception near Padina in Buzău County on Friday was the first time the Romanian Air Force had shot down a drone within Romanian territory under those new legal powers.
GNA