Romania stated its reason for not being able to shoot down suspected Russian UAVs

The Romanian Ministry of Defense today said that its air defense radar detected an unmanned aircraft (UAV) entering the country’s airspace when Russia conducted a raid on Ukraine on the night of May 28 and early morning of May 29.

The Romanian army deployed two F-16 fighters and a helicopter for surveillance, the pilot was also allowed to shoot down the target, but could not prevent the UAV from falling onto the roof of an apartment building in the southern border city of Galati. The incident injured two people and forced 70 people to evacuate.

“We only have 4 minutes. This time period is extremely short,” General Gheorghe Maxim of the Romanian Joint Command explained at today’s press conference, when asked why the fighter did not fire to shoot down the UAV.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan said that the decision not to fire the F-16 fighter was made “because the necessary conditions were not met to destroy the UAV without causing significant danger to civilians”.

Romania summoned the Russian ambassador to protest, while President Nicusor Dan convened a National Defense Council meeting to discuss “the most serious incident affecting national territory” since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine in February 2022. Romania has detected UAVs entering its airspace many times, but this is the first time an apartment building has been hit.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense identified this incident as “a serious and irresponsible escalation on the part of Russia”. Romania also said it had asked Western allies to accelerate the delivery of anti-UAV systems to their country.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the incident showed that “Russia’s war has crossed another line”, and expressed the solidarity of the European Union (EU) with Romania and its people. She also pledged to strengthen deterrence capabilities on the EU’s eastern flank and continue to increase pressure on Russia.

NATO condemned Russia’s “recklessness” and declared “absolute solidarity” with Romania, while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that the UAV falling on the territory of a NATO member country was an “irresponsible act”.

US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker condemned the incident, affirming that “we will defend every inch of NATO territory”.

Russia has not yet commented on this incident.

In addition to Romania, other NATO member countries bordering Russia or Ukraine, including Latvia, Estonia and Poland, are also increasingly witnessing Kiev or Moscow’s UAVs entering their airspace.

A NATO F-16 fighter on May 19 shot down a Ukrainian UAV over Estonian airspace. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs apologized to Estonia, accusing Russia’s electronic warfare measures of causing Ukrainian UAVs to be redirected towards the Baltic states.