Share to ClassroomRomania Shoots Down Drone for First Time
A Romanian fighter jet shot down a drone on Friday. Officials said it was the first time that a NATO country had destroyed a drone inside its own airspace. NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a group of countries that defend each other. Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu said the drone was hit over an empty area of Buzău County. Pilots said it looked like the kind of drone that Russia uses against Ukraine, but nobody has confirmed where it came from. The next day, Romania shot down a second drone near the Ukrainian border.
Romania shares a long border with Ukraine. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, dozens of drones have crossed into Romanian airspace or left debris on the ground. In June a Ukrainian sea drone exploded at a Black Sea port. A month earlier a Russian drone went off course and hit an apartment block, hurting two people. Before Friday, Romanian and allied jets only followed these drones. They never shot one down.
The war went on during the same week. A Russian drone strike killed three delivery drivers in the Sumy region. An attack near Kyiv killed at least ten people. The United Nations Security Council will meet about Ukraine on Monday.
