Romania's F-16s shoot down two Shahed drones in 48 hours near Ukraine border

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Romanian fighter jets on Friday and Saturday morning shot down two drones that were violating the country’s airspace.

On Saturday morning, Romanian radar “detected another unauthorized penetration of the national airspace by a drone operating in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border” and two Romanian F-16 jets shot it down in an unpopulated area close to the border, the Romanian defense ministry said in a statement. Romania already shot down another drone on Friday.

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said that the drone shot down on Friday “was a Shahed-type drone, the same kind Russia launches, night after night, against Ukraine.”

“Two incursions in 48 hours are not an accident, they are a pattern, and our answer to that pattern is consistency: detection, interception, protection of our citizens, full transparency with our allies,” Toiu said.

In a social media post , European Council President António Costa “commend[ed] the Romanian authorities for their swift and effective response.”