Romania's defense ministry said Sunday that a Spanish fighter jet shot down a drone that breached its airspace near the border with Ukraine and Moldova. The incident is the latest to highlight the challenges facing NATO states bordering Ukraine, exposing them to the spillover of Russia's war. The drone, which entered from Moldova, was intercepted by an F-18, deployed on NATO duties, at 5:01 am local time (0201 GMT), the ministry said in a statement. Debris fell in an unpopulated area of the Galati region, near the Ukrainian border, it added. Romania's eastern seaboard, bordering the Black Sea, is in the immediate vicinity of areas frequently targeted by strikes. Authorities have reported finding drone fragments on Romanian soil several times since 2023 following Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports along the Danube River, which lie just across the border. Last month, Romania shot down a drone for the first time since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, after it entered the country's airspace about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Bucharest. Similar incidents have been reported elsewhere on NATO's eastern flank, including in Poland and the Baltic states. On Friday, NATO said Italian fighter jets operating under the alliance's air-policing mission shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace.
