Romania proposes regrouping EU eastern flank to defend against Russian drones

Romanian Defence Minister Radu Miruță has said before the EU Security Council meeting on 12 May that the eastern flank of the European Union is suffering from regular violations of its airspace by Russian drones and that existing capabilities must be regrouped to counter these risks.

"While in the middle of the continent these kinds of Russian attacks are not felt exactly like they are felt on the margins, we are facing a few times per month drones that are entering into the European, NATO and Romanian airspace," Miruță said.

Miruță stressed that Russian drones are violating not only Romanian airspace but that "it is happening on the entire eastern flank".

"It's very clear that inside the European Union we should rearrange our capacities, our capabilities in order to decrease these types of violations. [...] It's very clear that the capabilities that the countries are having should be rearranged in order to fight against those Russian drones," the Romanian minister said.

Miruță added that since the beginning of 2026, 14 drones had violated Romania's airspace.

"If in the middle of the continent such risks are not existing, on the margin they are existing and there are some capacities in the middle of the continent which could be mapped on the margins in order to protect the continent," he repeated.

A Russian drone entered Romanian airspace on 2 May.

Shortly before that, on 25 and 26 April, debris from a Russian drone was discovered in Romania.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale war, Shahed drones have repeatedly crashed on the Romanian bank of the Danube River or violated the country's airspace.

Following the first such incidents, air-raid warnings began to be issued in border areas along the Danube, while scrambling aircraft later became routine procedure.

In another case, a drone resembling a Gerbera UAV flew dozens of kilometres into Romanian territory before crashing behind a private residence.