For the third consecutive day, Russian drones invaded Romanian airspace (a NATO member) and had to be shot down by combat fighters. These types of incursions have become a common occurrence by Moscow's forces, turning the border skies with the Alliance into a gray area where their unmanned aircraft can fly without consequences.
Yesterday, Romania intercepted yet another Russian drone in its airspace - the third such incursion in three days over this Eastern European nation, which borders Ukraine - as stated by Romanian President Nicuor Dan. Dan described the incidents as "unacceptable and intolerable" in a post on X and added that, according to authorities, one of the previously shot down drones appears to be "of the Shahed type, used by the Russian Federation in the aggression against Ukraine". Faced with this threat, Bucharest is considering invoking Article 4 of the Alliance and gathering all its members.
NATO reported that two Romanian F-16 fighters took off from the Feteti air base —under the operational command of the Alliance— in the morning and shot down the drone over the Black Sea. Since Moscow launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there have been several incursions by Russian and Ukrainian drones that have affected Romania and other NATO members.
Russian drone incursions into NATO airspace have ceased to be isolated incidents and have become what Secretary-General Mark Rutte acknowledges as "Europe's new normal." A report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) published this month records at least 144 incidents involving drones suspected of being of Russian origin across Europe between 2024 and 2026, mainly affecting Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, with a peak of activity at the end of 2025.
The most serious incident to date occurred in September 2025 when over twenty Russian drones penetrated Polish territory during a massive bombing against Ukraine, prompting Warsaw to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty and triggering urgent consultations among the 32 allies. Rutte responded by creating Operation Eastern Sentry to reinforce the alliance's stance on the eastern flank.
The escalation took a qualitative leap in 2026. Romania has recorded at least 33 drone intrusions into its airspace since the start of the invasion, 18 of them just this year, prompting the Romanian Air Force to shift from passive surveillance to direct military response: this week alone, an F-16 shot down a Russian drone over the Black Sea in the third incursion recorded in three days.
This is compounded by an electronic warfare dimension that further complicates the situation: according to Defense News, Russia has been using GPS signal spoofing from Kaliningrad to deliberately divert Ukrainian drones into NATO airspace for months, with the number of active interference stations increasing from three to 36 in a few months, aiming to sow confusion and erode the political cohesion of the eastern flank.