Drone Alerts Keep Romanian Border Town on Edge as Incursions Triple

Residents of Isaccea, a small town in eastern Romania's Tulcea County on the Danube River, say the growing frequency of drone alerts and nearby explosions has left them living in constant fear.

Robert Marian, 48, described being jolted awake around midnight two or three weeks ago by a pair of blasts. "There are alerts warning us that something is coming," he said. "One was quieter, but another was really loud. I got scared and ran out of the house."

Fellow resident Alina Mihail said the alerts and explosions across the border make her ill. "I have so many nights where I don't sleep anymore," she said. "I live in terror, me and my husband."

Isaccea sits along the Danube with a crossing into Ukraine. On Sept. 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a border crossing with Romania had been "deliberately damaged ... as well as export infrastructure." Romanian customs announced the same day that activity at the Isaccea-Orlivka crossing had been temporarily suspended.

Figures from Romania's Ministry of National Defense show 27 drone incursions into the country's airspace so far this year, compared with nine in all of 2025 — a threefold rise. Debris or drones recovered on Romanian territory more than doubled, to 37 from 16.

There have been 73 attacks near the border on Ukrainian territory this year, with 56 military aircraft scrambled to monitor and manage the situation. Last year saw 28 such attacks and 21 aircraft raised, while the war's first year recorded a single attack near the border.

In May, a drone crashed into an apartment block in the eastern Danube town of Galati, injuring a mother and child. Last week, a drone that entered Romania from Moldova was tracked through several counties before it reentered Moldova and came down in a sunflower field.

Moscow has denied sending combat drones into Romanian territory. The incursions have prompted Romania, a NATO member, to shoot down four drones this year — the first such action since the war next door began.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Sept. 2 that "Russia has grown increasingly reckless," adding that more drones and missiles are crossing into allied airspace along the eastern flank. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week he had received information from CIA Director Jim Ratcliffe indicating Europe should prepare for intensified Russian provocations, including on the EU's eastern flank.

Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruta said Russia is treated as a "primary, significant threat" to the eastern flank in both the National Defense Strategy and NATO assessments. He said Romania is coordinating with allies on the capabilities needed to counter the threat, facing the same risks as Poland and the Baltic states.

Miruta said more than 1,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Romania, a higher number than after last year's U.S. troop rotation, and described the relationship as solid. He said discussions about NATO's Article 5 "can take various directions" but that Romania has no information suggesting a ground invasion is imminent. "From this perspective, we can rest easy," he said.

He said the threat to Romania is distinct because of Russia's repeated attacks on Ukraine's Danube River ports, which lie just across the water. "Once the border is crossed, the distance involved is merely tens of meters, leaving very little reaction time," he said, contrasting that with Nordic countries where targets are tens of kilometers away.

"We see the drones coming, we see them heading toward those ports," Miruta said. "Most stop there, bombarding port infrastructure, but we cannot know if any might cross over to the other side."

Romania and Poland have acquired the MEROPS system, which fires short counter-drones to bring down stray incoming drones. The defense ministry said last month it had received its first 2.5 billion euros from the EU's Security Action for Europe program, out of 16.6 billion allocated. In June, it announced a $2 billion contract with an Israeli firm for short and very-short-range air defense systems designed to counter drones and cruise missiles.

President Nicusor Dan said at the Ankara summit that defense spending would reach up to 3.7% of GDP this year, and that Romania had joined NATO's Drone Edge project, which aims to invest over $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years.

In Isaccea, Mihail said she and her husband remain indoors when alerts warn of possible airspace breaches. "We have no support, no one to help us," she said.