Romania has scrambled F-16 fighter jets to destroy a naval drone spotted near the Neptun Deep offshore gas field, the country's Defense Minister Radu Miruca said, quoted by Reuters. The drone was moving towards Romania's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.
"In order to protect the lives of several hundred people working on the platform and to secure critical infrastructure, a decision was made to destroy it", Miruca explained on Facebook about the discovered naval drone. He did not disclose the origin of the drone, but said Ukraine had confirmed that it was not its forces.
Romanian President Nikosor Dan blamed Russia. "I strongly condemn the escalation of this type of irresponsible incidents by the Russian Federation", he wrote on the social network. "We remain vigilant together with NATO allies to defend ourselves and repel such challenges", the head of state added.
The "Neptune Deep" gas field is owned by OMV Petrom and the Romanian state-owned company Romgaz.
The drone that was shot down in Latvian airspace on August 14 was Ukrainian, the Latvian Armed Forces reported earlier on Thursday, quoted by "Reuters".
The drone entered Latvian territory from Belarus, and according to a preliminary assessment, the most likely reason for its deviation was interference by Russian electronic warfare equipment.
The drone was shot down by an Italian fighter jet deployed in the Baltic region as part of a NATO airspace protection mission. The incident occurred during Ukrainian attacks on Russian port facilities.
The Latvian Armed Forces did not provide further details about the specific model or purpose of the drone.
The incident is the latest this year in which Ukrainian drones aimed at targets in Russia have strayed and entered the airspace of countries in the Baltic region.
Such incidents have raised concerns among NATO's eastern flank about the risk that the war in Ukraine could directly affect neighboring countries.