Romania expels Russian diplomat after shooting down three drones

Romania summoned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest and expelled a Russian diplomat on Monday to protest repeated violations of its airspace. The move comes after Romanian fighter jets downed three Russian drones between Friday and Sunday.

The first drone was shot down on Friday in a sparsely populated area near Padina in southeastern Romania. The subsequent two were destroyed over the Danube Delta and the Black Sea on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the Russian diplomat with fragments of the first drone, which investigations indicate are of Russian origin.

Bucharest condemned the incidents as "illegal and irresponsible" and demanded the diplomat's departure within five days. The ministry stated that it is "inadmissible and intolerable" for Russia to violate the airspace of a NATO and European Union member state. A fourth drone was detected on Monday for several minutes before leaving Romanian territory towards Ukraine.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Romania, which shares a border of over 600 kilometers with Ukraine, has recorded more than 100 attacks near its border and 34 incursions of Russian drones into its airspace. This latest incident represents a notable escalation in tensions along NATO's eastern flank.