Romania shoots down two drones in its airspace over the Black Sea

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Romania announced on Saturday that it shot down two drones over the Black Sea, amid an escalation in drone attacks on ships in the region as part of the repercussions of the war in Ukraine.

Romanian Defense Minister Radu Mirota said in a Facebook post, “Romanian army pilots targeted two drones and shot them down minutes ago over the Black Sea, moments after they entered our territory illegally,” without specifying the type of drones.

“The first drone entered Romanian airspace at 17:59 local time (14:59 GMT), and was shot down in less than two minutes, 25 kilometers southeast of the Black Sea coastal city of Sulina,” Mirota wrote.

He added, "The second drone was in the same area, and was targeted and shot down at 18:05 local time (15:05 GMT), five minutes after it entered Romanian airspace, 20 kilometers east of Sulina."

The Romanian Ministry of Defense explained that F-16 fighters belonging to the Romanian Air Force shot down two drones after radar systems detected a group of air targets moving about 120 kilometers east of Serpent Island, heading southwest.

NATO has previously shot down four drones in Romanian airspace this year.