Downed drone in Romania identified as Russian Shahed
Iranian Shahed drone (photo: Getty Images)
Romanian prosecutors officially confirmed that the drone shot down over Buzău County on July 24 was a Russian Shahed drone, Euronews reports.
The outlet said the Prosecutor's Office at the Ploiești Court of Appeal confirmed that the drone downed in Padina, Buzău County, on July 24 was a Shahed-type drone of Russian origin.
The identification was also confirmed by specialists from the Ministry of National Defense of Romania.
Prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into the operation of an aircraft in restricted airspace, an offense under the Romanian Air Code.
In addition to examining the drone, investigators also had to deal with the circumstances of its interception. A missile fired by Italian pilots flying a Eurofighter Typhoon failed to hit the target and created a crater at the impact site in Brăila County.
In Padina of Buzău County, field teams recovered drone debris as well as the interceptor missile. All fragments were collected by the military for forensic examination.
As previously reported, at around 11:00 a.m. on July 24, a Romanian F-16 shot down a drone that had entered the country's airspace. Romanian President Nicușor Dan said the area was uninhabited, allowing the pilot to engage the target without risking civilian lives.
Earlier, in May 2026, Romania officially asked NATO to accelerate deliveries of air defense systems after a Russian drone struck an apartment building in the city of Galați, near the border with Ukraine.
