Romania expels Russian diplomat after fourth drone incursion in four days

Romania expelled a member of the Russian Federation’s diplomatic mission in Bucharest on July 27, 2026, hours after a fourth drone in four days crossed national airspace over the Danube Delta.

Russian ambassador Vladimir Lipaev was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was shown fragments of a drone destroyed over Romanian territory that prosecutors confirmed to be a Gerbera drone of Russian origin.

Ambasadorul Rusiei la București a fost convocat astăzi la sediul MAE. Imagini cu fragmentele de drone prezentate diplomatului. https://t.co/9d659icTOp pic.twitter.com/kdpWH6HHHz— TVR Info (@StirileTVR) July 27, 2026

He was handed a verbal note declaring a member of the mission unacceptable, with five days to leave the country, and Romania’s ambassador to Moscow was recalled to Bucharest for consultations. The ministry said it is intolerable for Russia to continue violating Romanian airspace, which is equally NATO and European Union airspace.

Romanian Air Force F-16s were scrambled earlier on July 27, 2026, after radar detected an aerial target east of Sulina, on the Black Sea coast. The National Military Command Center notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, which sent a RO-Alert warning [the Romanian cell broadcast message system – ed. note] to Tulcea County at 08:47 local time, and two F-16s from the 86th Air Base at Fetești took off at 08:53.

The Ministry of National Defense said the target spent only a short time in national airspace before crossing the border toward Ukraine, where explosions were reported shortly afterward. Unlike the three previous incidents, the drone was not shot down. The ministry did not say why it was not engaged.

Three shootdowns in three days 

On July 24, 2026, radar detected a target roughly 20 kilometers east of Sulina at 09:39, which crossed the country on a Sulina, Brăila, Fetești, Buzău trajectory before an F-16 destroyed it at 11:02 over an unpopulated area near Padina, in Buzău County.  

It was the first time Romania had shot down an intruding aircraft inside its own airspace. Two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons deployed to Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base engaged the target first, but their missile missed.  A second drone was downed on the morning of July 25, 2026, around 10 kilometers west of Sfantu Gheorghe, by the same pilot.

The third entered national airspace at 10:08 on July 26, 2026, and was engaged with a missile five minutes later, 12 kilometers northeast of Sulina over Romanian territorial waters. Coast Guard teams are still searching for fragments of the drone and of the interceptor missile. 

Prosecutors attached to the Ploiesti Court of Appeal concluded that the July 24 drone was a Shahed type, while the July 25 and July 26 cases are being examined by prosecutors in Constanta.  

Romania summoned the Russian ambassador on July 26, 2026, over what interim foreign minister Oana Toiu called repeated violations. Toiu has also said Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows any member to request consultations, remains available to Bucharest, as it did after a Russian drone struck an apartment building in Galati in May 2026. 

The ministry noted that Romanian pilots have carried out four of the five drone shootdowns recorded over EU and NATO member states to date. The fourth took place abroad: a Romanian F-16 detachment at Siauliai Air Base in Lithuania shot down a drone over Estonia on May 19, 2026. The fifth one was carried out by French Rafale fighter jets, also based in Siauliai, over Latvia on June 8, 2026. The post Romania expels Russian diplomat after fourth drone incursion in four days appeared first on AeroTime.

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