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BUCHAREST, Romania — In a sharp escalation of cross-border security risks stemming from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Romania, a joint member of NATO and the European Union, downed a suspected Russian drone that entered its national airspace Sunday. This incident marks the third unauthorized Russian drone incursion into Romanian territory in just three days, according to the country’s head of state.

NATO officials confirmed that two Romanian F-16 fighter jets, operating under the alliance’s integrated operational command and launching from the country’s Fetești airbase, intercepted and destroyed the unmanned aircraft over Romanian territorial waters in the Black Sea’s Sulina-Chilia region at 10:13 a.m. local time, Romanian President Nicusor Dan publicly confirmed.

President Dan added that forensic analysis of debris from one of the two previously intercepted drones has definitively identified it as an Iranian-made Shahed-type drone, the same model Moscow has widely deployed to strike targets across Ukraine in its full-scale war of aggression. This latest downing brings to four the total number of unauthorized NATO airspace-violating drones that Romania has shot down in coordination with the alliance, according to Colonel Martin O’Donnell, spokesperson for NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).

Prior to this weekend’s string of interceptions, O’Donnell noted, Romanian jets downed an errant drone over Estonia back in May. Currently, Romanian aircrew and aircraft are forward-deployed to Lithuania as part of NATO’s enhanced eastern flank deterrence posture, giving them broad reach to respond to airspace violations across the Baltic and Black Sea regions. “As we continue to prove, NATO is constantly on the watch and prepared to defend itself from any threat,” O’Donnell said in a statement reinforcing the alliance’s collective defense commitment.

The string of incursions comes as Romania has moved to strengthen its counter-unmanned aerial capabilities, recently acquiring the MEROPS counter-drone system. The platform deploys low-cost, three-foot-long intercept drones to neutralize incoming threats including Shaheds and other common attack drone variants. Romania’s defensive upgrades are part of a broader alliance-wide effort to harden NATO’s 1,000-plus-mile eastern border against growing drone and cruise missile threats spilling over from the war in Ukraine.

The risk of conflict spillover into NATO territory first gained widespread public attention back in May, when an out-of-control Russian drone launched during a mass attack on Ukrainian infrastructure went astray and crashed into an apartment building in eastern Romania. The strike injured two civilian residents and sparked intense alarm among alliance members over the potential for expanded conflict.

“It is inadmissible and intolerable that the Russian Federation continues to violate Romanian airspace, which is also NATO and European Union airspace,” President Dan emphasized Sunday. “Such actions are unacceptable and we treat them with all seriousness, together with our allies.”

The international community quickly rallied to support Romania following the latest incursion. Belgium, another NATO and EU member, called Sunday’s incident a “stark reminder of the ongoing threat Russia’s war poses to European security.” “Belgium stands firmly with Romania after several drones were shot down over its territory in the past days. Romania’s investigation has already confirmed that one of them was a Russian Shahed drone,” said Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot. Prévot also noted that 300 Belgian military personnel are currently deployed to Romania as part of NATO’s eastern flank deterrence force.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Romania and other NATO allies bordering Ukraine have faced a steady stream of stray drone and missile incursions, linked to both Russian and Ukrainian operations. This latest string of incidents underscores the persistent risk that the war could draw NATO into direct conflict with Russia, even as the alliance continues to supply Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid while avoiding direct participation in hostilities. This report includes contributions from McNeil, reporting out of Brussels.

In a striking about-face that has sent ripples through American political circles, far-right commentator and long-time Donald Trump ally Laura Loomer has publicly renounced her years of anti-Ukraine rhetoric, admitting that she was duped by Russian propaganda that shaped her earlier opposition to Kyiv. The polarizing figure, who built her reputation spreading conspiracy theories to a loyal online following, made the admission during an interview with The Associated Press from a Kyiv bomb shelter, as Russian ballistic missiles targeted the capital in an attack that forced the interview to be relocated mid-session.

Loomer’s journey to Ukraine, which included a trip to the eastern front lines, a sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and meetings with top government and religious leaders, marks one of the most high-profile shifts in the American conservative movement’s stance on the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. After spending years repeating Russian talking points that downplayed Moscow’s aggression and pushed false claims about Ukraine being overrun by neo-Nazis, Loomer now says her on-the-ground observations have completely upended her views.

The commentator traces her past misinformation to a shift in her media consumption after being banned from major American social media platforms. Banned from mainstream apps, she turned to Telegram, a platform where Russian state-aligned media and propaganda are widely circulated. That shift, she says, allowed Russian operatives to capitalize on her anger over the 2020 U.S. presidential election — an election she still falsely claims was stolen from Trump — to indoctrinate her with anti-Ukraine falsehoods. Her change of heart unfolded gradually, she adds, as she watched prominent conservative podcasters, including Tucker Carlson, adopt anti-Trump rhetoric that she discovered was being amplified by Russian sources to divide American conservatives.

Ukrainian officials have embraced Loomer’s visit, seeing it as a unique opportunity to win over hearts and minds in the conservative wing of U.S. politics ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in Washington next week. “It takes courage to come to Ukraine and not be deterred by Russian propaganda or air raid sirens,” Zelenskyy’s office wrote in a social media post welcoming Loomer. In addition to her meeting with Zelenskyy, Loomer toured the Dormition Cathedral of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a historic monastic complex targeted in a Russian attack just last month. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna noted Loomer’s outsized influence in U.S. conservative circles, saying she hopes the commentator’s first-hand observations will shift American public opinion ahead of the high-stakes Washington meeting. “I do really hope and I believe that her visit will have a huge impact on relations with the U.S. administration,” Berezhna told the AP.

Loomer has remained a close and influential informal advisor to Trump despite holding no official role in his campaign or orbit. She says she spoke with Trump by phone immediately after her meeting with Zelenskyy, and Trump has already publicly embraced her new stance, sharing video of her conversation with the Ukrainian leader on his social media platform with the comment “Very good!!!” Loomer occasionally travels with Trump on the 2024 campaign trail, and last year she convinced him to purge multiple members of his National Security Council staff after she raised questions about their loyalty to him during an Oval Office meeting. She expects to meet with Trump personally upon her return to the U.S. from Ukraine.

The commentator’s reversal has already stirred mixed reactions: while Ukrainian leaders have welcomed the shift, it has sparked confusion and suspicion among some of her former allies in the American right. Loomer has repeatedly pushed back against claims that Ukraine is funding her trip, noting that she risked her life traveling to a war zone to see the conflict first-hand. “If it’s fake, why did I risk my life? I’m in a bomb shelter right now. I barely slept this week,” she said.

Even as she has reversed her stance on Ukraine, Loomer’s long history of bigotry and conspiracy mongering remains unchanged. Days into her trip, she posted a bigoted comment on social media saying, “One thing I really love about Ukraine is I haven’t seen a single Muslim here. It’s so refreshing.”

Despite her own history spreading misinformation, Loomer now argues that the spread of Russian propaganda through rogue online platforms and independent podcasters represents a critical national security threat to the U.S. She says the “information war” waged by Moscow is potentially more destructive than any conventional military conflict the U.S. could face, and has called on a future Trump administration to take the threat of foreign influence operations far more seriously than current U.S. leaders have. “They have been able to warp people’s minds to the point where people aren’t even capable of analyzing a subject with common sense anymore because they want to depend on these personalities to give them the opinion that they think they should have,” she said of the podcasters who spread Russian talking points. She added that she is already seeing MAGA movement supporters change their minds after her visit, saying she has received hundreds of messages from followers saying she opened their eyes to Russian disinformation.

Loomer’s turnaround comes as the U.S. Congress debates new sanctions against Russia and just days before Zelenskyy is set to meet with Trump in the Oval Office, a meeting Loomer says her visit has already helped set up for success for Ukraine. “Going into this meeting next week at the Oval Office is looking pretty good,” she said.