BUCHAREST — An F-18 fighter on a NATO air policing mission shot down a drone that illegally breached Romanian national airspace, the fourth unmanned aircraft shot down over the country this year, reports BritPanorama.
A spokesperson for NATO’s military headquarters, U.S. Army Colonel Martin O’Donnell, indicated that the alliance is constantly vigilant and prepared to defend itself from any threat.
“Additional details regarding Sunday’s incident remain under investigation, but the drone appears to be Russian,” he noted. NATO member Romania shares a 381-mile land border with Ukraine and has reported multiple breaches of its airspace by Russian drones over the past four years, as well as mines floating in the Black Sea across key trade and energy routes.
Romania’s defence ministry did not specify the origin of the drone, noting it was detected by radar as it entered the country from neighbouring Moldova, north of the southeastern Romanian city of Galati.
The F-18 jet, part of a Spanish NATO contingent deployed in Romania, “made radar contact with the target and received permission to engage,” the ministry stated, adding that the drone was shot down safely at 5:01 a.m.
Fragments from the destroyed drone fell in an uninhabited area between two villages, as confirmed by the ministry.
Moscow hit in Ukrainian strikes
Ukrainian drones struck Moscow region overnight on Sunday in what the provincial governor described as one of the largest attacks in the area, resulting in at least one fatality.
Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported an 83-year-old man had been killed, with several others injured in Podolsk, where a warehouse belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries was targeted.
Damage occurred at multiple sites, including a warehouse in Domodedovo, which is near one of Moscow’s main airports.
Russia’s Defence Ministry asserted it had downed 822 Ukrainian drones throughout the country.
Video footage from the aftermath of the strike on Wildberries’ Koledino warehouse showed a significant plume of smoke rising over the site, approximately 45 km (28 miles) south of Moscow.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has been targeting Wildberries, alleging its involvement in handling military goods, as part of a broader strategy to damage Russian economic infrastructure that supports Moscow’s military campaign.
Russia attacks Kyiv overnight
Russian forces launched missile and drone attacks on Kyiv early on Sunday, sparking fires in at least two districts of the Ukrainian capital, as reported by Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
According to the city’s military administration, three individuals sustained injuries during the attacks.
Mayor Klitschko informed via the Telegram messaging app that falling debris ignited a fire in a non-residential section of a northern suburb.
Several vehicles were ablaze, and additional fires erupted in an area just south of the city centre, Klitschko added.
Witnesses reported explosions in the city, while Tymur Tkachenko, Governor of the Kyiv region, confirmed that three more people, including a child, were injured as a result of drone attacks throughout the area.
In recent weeks, Russia has been staging intensive air attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
