World / Europe

The war has reached NATO waters, and Romania is shooting back

Romanian F-16s shot down two fast drones over the Black Sea on Saturday, after a fortnight in which at least seven commercial ships were hit near the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts. The shipping lane Ukraine depends on is becoming a front line.

Bucharest, Romania · October 18, 2026

Romania shot down two drones over its own territorial waters on Saturday, and the details matter as much as the fact. Its Defence Ministry said two F-16s scrambled from the 86th Air Base at Borcea at 17:43 local time after radar picked up targets about 120 km east of Snake Island heading southwest. The first drone crossed into Romanian airspace at 17:59 and was destroyed at 18:01. The second crossed at 18:01 and was gone by 18:05. Defence Minister Radu Miruta said the drones were likely Russian Geran-4s flying at about 450 km/h, and that this was the first time that type has been shot down.

Romania has reported drone incursions repeatedly since 2022, which is not surprising from a country that shares a 614 km border with Ukraine. For years Bucharest mostly protested and collected wreckage. Earlier this year it changed the rules and started shooting drones down. What changed this month is the target list. The drones are no longer only straying across the border. They are hitting ships.

The shipping toll is the clearest measure of the escalation. At least seven commercial vessels have been hit near the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts in the past two weeks, and 23 sailors are reported dead or missing. The San Marino flagged Wine Trader was struck early on Thursday about a mile outside Romanian territorial waters: five of its twelve crew were rescued and seven are still missing. The Comoros flagged Yara J was hit inside Romanian waters late on Wednesday, its crew unharmed, and was towed to Constanta. Both ships sat near the mouth of the Sulina Canal, the Danube route that has become a key export path for Ukraine while its own ports are battered.

Attribution is being handled carefully, and readers should notice who is saying what. A NATO military source told Reuters the drones that hit the tankers came from Russia. President Nicusor Dan confirmed both ships were struck by drones and called attacks on commercial vessels unacceptable, but he has not publicly named a culprit. Miruta, for his part, described Saturday's drones as likely Geran-4s, and that word likely is doing real work. The evidence points one way. Bucharest is still choosing its words as if it knows how much weight they carry.

The alliance is now moving in public. Bulgaria has formally asked NATO to deploy combat aircraft and anti-drone systems after a commercial vessel sank off its coast on Tuesday, and Sofia has summoned Russia's ambassador. Foreign Minister Oana Toiu says the North Atlantic Council meets on Tuesday to discuss Black Sea defence, and Bulgaria expects to join a NATO anti-drone initiative by the end of October. The open question is whether a shield agreed in Brussels changes behaviour at sea. Until ships start moving under some form of protection, the lane stays exposed, and every captain queuing at Sulina is pricing a war into a cargo of grain.