A drone crashed in an uninhabited area of Romania's Tulcea County after entering Romanian airspace during a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine, while the death toll from the overnight strikes on Kyiv rose to eight, according to Romanian and Ukrainian authorities.
Romania's Defense Ministry said its radar systems detected a group of aerial targets near the Ukrainian border at 2:23 a.m. local time. Two Spanish F-18 fighter jets deployed in Romania as part of NATO's air-policing mission were scrambled to monitor the situation.
At 3:21 a.m., one of the drones crossed into Romanian airspace about 13 kilometers east of Galati. It later crashed in an uninhabited area of Tulcea County. A Romanian IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter was dispatched to conduct additional reconnaissance. Initial information indicated there were no casualties or material damage.
The incident comes amid a series of drone-related violations and crashes along Romania's border with Ukraine. On August 16, a Spanish F-18 participating in NATO's air-policing mission shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace from Moldova. The device was destroyed over an uninhabited area. Romanian media reported that it was the fourth drone shot down over the country in 2026. NATO said the drone was likely Russian-made, although the investigation was still underway.
