Romania: Drone crashes in Tulcea county near Ukraine border

Published Aug 20, 04:03 PM UTC

Early Thursday morning, an uncrewed aerial system (UAS) entered Romanian airspace and crashed in an uninhabited area of Tulcea county, northeast of the village of Grindu near the Ukraine border. The Romanian Defence Ministry reported that military radar detected aerial targets north of Tulcea at 02:23 local time. Two Spanish Air Force F-18 fighter jets and a Romanian IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter were deployed to monitor the situation. At 03:21, one drone breached Romanian airspace approximately 13km east of Galați, and within three minutes, the helicopter crew confirmed it had crashed about 4km northeast of Grindu, causing a small fire that self-extinguished. No injuries or material damage were reported. Public warning procedures were activated. This incident follows a similar event on 16 August, when a Spanish F-18 shot down a drone near the Ukrainian and Moldovan borders, and a July incident where Romania downed a drone for the first time since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The recurring drone incursions have raised security concerns among NATO members bordering Ukraine.