Romanian residents find drone carrying suspected explosive device PHOTO

Residents of the Romanian settlement of Viișoara discovered an unidentified drone carrying what is believed to be an explosive device on September 1, around 30 kilometres from the Moldovan border, Digi24 reports.

The area was cordoned off, and a Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) bomb disposal team was dispatched to the site. Preliminary findings indicated that the drone was carrying an explosive device.

The origin of the drone and the circumstances of its crash remain unknown. No injuries or property damage were reported. The Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Iași Court of Appeal will investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The discovery comes amid a series of recent incidents involving suspected Russian and Gerbera-type drones in and around Romanian airspace and territorial waters. 

In late July 2026, Romanian F-16 jets shot down three suspected Russian drones that breached national airspace over three consecutive days, with one confirmed as a Shahed-type attack drone of the kind used by Russia against Ukraine.

The incidents continued in August, when Romanian authorities dealt with several drones carrying or suspected of carrying explosive payloads in the Black Sea. On August 11, Romanian army divers destroyed two drifting Gerbera-type drones found near the Neptun Deep offshore gas project. On August 20, a maritime drone carrying explosives was spotted a few hundred metres from the same platform and destroyed by Romanian F-16 cannon fire after Ukraine confirmed it was not one of theirs.

Most recently, on August 23, Romanian Navy EOD divers neutralised a Gerbera drone fragment that carried an explosive payload near Gura Portiței on the Black Sea coast.

By Jeyhun Aghazada