Romania has shot down a third drone in three days as the country faces a growing number of unmanned aircraft incidents linked to the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

Romanian President Nicușor Dan said an F-16 fighter jet intercepted and destroyed a drone over Romania’s territorial waters on Sunday morning. The incident occurred at about 10:13 a.m. in the Sulina-Chilia area of the Danube Delta, close to the Ukrainian border.

“I would like to congratulate the Romanian pilots and ground crews on the professionalism, courage and efficiency with which they carry out their missions,” Dan wrote on social media.

Romanian authorities had reported another drone being shot down by an F-16 on Saturday. The aircraft was intercepted around 10 kilometres west of the village of Sfântu Gheorghe in eastern Romania.

The Defence Ministry said two fighter jets had been sent to identify and intercept the target. The drone was then destroyed in an unpopulated area near the border.

A third drone was shot down by a Romanian F-16 at around 11 a.m. on Friday.

Romania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has determined that the drone destroyed on Friday was a Shahed-type aircraft used by Russian forces in their war against Ukraine. Investigations into the drones shot down on Saturday and Sunday remain ongoing.

Dan said it was “intolerable” for Russia to continue violating Romanian airspace.

“Such actions are unacceptable and we are treating them with the utmost seriousness, alongside our allies,” he said.

Romania, a NATO member on the alliance’s eastern flank, has faced growing security concerns because of its position along the Black Sea and its border with Ukraine. The country has reported an increasing number of drone incidents since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In May, a Russian drone carrying explosives crashed into an apartment building in Galați, causing a fire on the roof and injuring two people.

A month later, a Ukrainian sea drone exploded in the Romanian port of Constanta. Ukraine’s military said the vessel had veered off course after Russian electronic warfare interference.

The repeated incidents have increased concerns in Bucharest over the possibility of the war spilling across national borders, even as Romania and its NATO allies continue to strengthen surveillance and air defence measures in the region.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has described such incidents as a direct consequence of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The latest drone activity has placed further pressure on Romanian authorities to monitor the country’s airspace and territorial waters as fighting continues across the border.

Wildfires continued to spread across parts of France and Spain on Friday, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes as emergency services struggled to contain blazes fuelled by extreme heat and dry conditions.

French authorities ordered residents in three suburbs of Bordeaux to evacuate as a major fire continued to burn across the Gironde department. People in Le Haillan, Eysines and Mérignac were told to leave immediately using designated evacuation routes.

The fire, described by officials as unprecedented, has burned around 19,000 hectares since it began near Saumos on Tuesday. Around 110,000 people have been evacuated as the flames moved towards Le Porge and Lège-Cap-Ferret before spreading east towards the Bordeaux metropolitan area.

Smoke from the fires was visible across the Arcachon Basin. Bordeaux authorities opened the Parc des Expositions exhibition centre to accommodate people forced from their homes.

Two firefighters died while battling the blaze in Mérignac on Tuesday. French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the firefighters and expressed condolences to their families and colleagues.

France has requested international assistance through the European Union’s civil protection mechanism. The EU said aircraft and helicopters from Portugal, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia would be sent to help tackle the fires. Sweden also announced plans to send firefighting aircraft.

The crisis has placed additional pressure on emergency services already dealing with widespread fires across southern Europe.

In Spain, wildfires continued to burn in the Madrid region and the province of Ávila, forcing thousands of people to flee. The Spanish government declared a national emergency as fires threatened communities.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, described the blaze affecting the region as the worst in its local history.

Spain’s Civil Guard said 650 officers, 60 vehicles and two helicopters had been deployed to support evacuation operations and emergency efforts.

The fires have also caused disruption in other areas near the capital, with residents forced to leave as flames approached towns and villages.

According to figures from the European Union, 1,254 fires have burned approximately 254,388 hectares across Europe since the start of the year. The scale of the destruction has raised renewed concerns about the impact of extreme heat, drought and increasingly dangerous wildfire conditions across the continent.

Emergency crews in France and Spain continue to battle the fires, while authorities have warned residents to follow evacuation orders as changing winds and high temperatures could cause the flames to spread rapidly.