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The ongoing violations of Romanian airspace raise concerns over impact on NATO states of Russia-Ukraine war.

Romania has summoned Russia’s ambassador as it has reported that it shot down three drones in as many days.

A Romanian plane shot down a drone after an incursion into the country’s airspace on Sunday morning, the Ministry of Defence reported. The incident followed similar interceptions on Friday and Saturday.

Concern that Moscow’s war on Ukraine risks entangling neighbouring NATO states is on the rise. Romania is one of several alliance members to confront repeated stray drones recently, as Russia and Ukraine launch hundreds of the unmanned aircraft daily.

Following Sunday’s incident, Bucharest summoned Russia’s ambassador to complain about the “repeated violations”, Foreign Minister Oana Toiu wrote on social media.

Romania intercepted a Russian drone for the first time on Friday. That followed a similar incident on Saturday. An F-16 fighter jet then shot down an unmanned aircraft over the Black Sea on Sunday.

President Nicusor Dan reported that an investigation had found that Friday’s drone was a “Shahed model, used by the Russian Federation in its war of aggression against Ukraine”.

‘Unacceptable and intolerable’

The persistent entry of Russian drones into the airspace of Eastern European countries is widely seen as a bid to test NATO and the European Union defences and reaction.

“It is unacceptable and intolerable for the Russian Federation to continue violating Romania’s airspace, which is also the airspace of NATO and the European Union,” US Army Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a senior NATO military spokesperson, wrote on social media following Sunday’s incident.

Romania, like other countries in the region, has seen frequent drone incursions since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In late May, a drone struck an apartment building in the Romanian city of Galati, injuring two people. It was the first time such a strike hit a populated area in a NATO country.

Last month, a maritime drone exploded in Romania’s Constanta port.

The Baltic states have also reported repeated airspace violations in recent months, incursions that contributed to the collapse of Latvia’s government in May.

NATO chief Mark Rutte has said Moscow’s “reckless behaviour is a danger to us all”. United States ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, has pledged the alliance will “defend every inch” of its territory.

“NATO, Romania, and other nations [are actively acquiring] ground-based interceptors to enhance allied ⁠and national air defence capabilities,” O’Donnell noted.

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine continue to target one another with huge bombardments of drones and missiles.

Ballistic missiles hit Kyiv and other cities overnight on Sunday morning, killing two people and wounding at least three.

Russia’s Defence Ministry, which persistently insists that it does not target civilians, said the attack on Kyiv struck sites linked to drone production.

In Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, authorities said a Ukrainian drone strike had killed four civilians in the city of Horlivka. According to Ivan Prikhodko, the city’s Russian-appointed mayor, the city had come under fire in the early hours of Sunday.

Russia’s Defence Ministry has said that overnight, it struck down 133 Ukrainian drones over Russia, the Black Sea and Crimea.