A Romanian F-16 shot down an unmanned aircraft that entered Romanian airspace - and once again NATO stayed awake all night over something that began over Ukraine and ended over a member of the Alliance. President Nicolae Ciucă announced that the incident happened around 11 o'clock over uninhabited terrain, so the interception passed without risk to civilians.

According to the defence ministry, the drone was destroyed near Padina in Buzău county, in eastern Romania. All night before that, Romanian radars had been picking up groups of drones towards the border with Ukraine, and the authorities raised the alarm in Tulcea county. Around 00:10 aerial targets were registered about 33 kilometres north of the Danube, exactly as Russia was striking Ukrainian targets on the other side.

The Romanian air force also scrambled an IAR-330 Puma helicopter for surveillance. The National Military Command Centre notified the emergency services, which at 00:56 sent an RO-Alert warning to citizens. The aerial danger was declared over at 01:33. The ministry then claimed there had been no unauthorised entry into the airspace and no aircraft downed on Romanian territory.

Romania shares about 650 kilometres of land border with Ukraine and is a member of both NATO and the EU. Russian drones have already violated its airspace several times - each time the story is the same: alarm, fighter jets in the air, a statement that everything is under control. Until the next night.

And the question hanging over this whole part of Europe is a simple one: how long does a „by chance” downed drone over a NATO member stay just an incident? The Balkans know well how thin the line is between „no reason to panic” and the morning when it is already too late. Romania is less than 500 kilometres from us. The war everyone watches as distant takes one step closer every night.