The drone crossed into Romanian airspace at around 4 a.m. local time in the Gura Portiţei area but the combat aircraft did not have visual contact with the target at any point, and the radar signal was lost half an hour later, south of Cogealac, News.ro reported, according to a translation.

Romanian forces scrambled their fighter jets on the night of 18-19 October because of a small Russian air target approaching Romania's airspace and violating the border. Source: Romanian Ministry of Defence on the morning of 19 October,

Since Thursday, the Romanian Ministry of Defence has reported twice the presence of a "small flying object" entering the country's airspace over the Black Sea. Four fighter jets were dispatched from Romanian bases in response.

NATO has called on Romania to "effectively respond" to recent incidents involving violations of its airspace by Russian missiles and drones, says NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a press conference at a meeting of defense ministers.