Spanish F-18 shoots down drone that breached Romanian airspace

A Spanish F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone that breached Romanian airspace near the border with Ukraine and Moldova on Sunday, August 16, 2026. The interception took place at 5:01 am local time, and debris fell in an unpopulated area of the Galati region, the Romanian defence ministry said. The drone entered from Moldova.

This is the fourth drone destroyed in Romania since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. NATO Air Command said the mission involved two Spanish F-18s from a contingent of about 200 personnel and 11 aircraft based in Romania. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said his Romanian counterpart Oana Toiu thanked the pilots.

Separately on Sunday, drone debris was found in the Black Sea off Constanta. In July, Romania expelled a Russian embassy employee after repeated airspace breaches. Similar drone incursions have been reported in Poland and the Baltic states. On Friday, Italian jets under NATO air policing shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace.