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Romania has scrambled fighter jets after a drone breached the country’s airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, its Ministry of National Defence said, as Kyiv accused Moscow of expanding its war.
The Romanian move on Saturday came as Poland also deployed aircraft and closed an airport in the eastern city of Lublin over the threat of a drone attack.
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Ukraine’s European Union neighbours have been on guard since Poland shot down Russian drones in its airspace earlier this week, with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies.
Romania’s Defence Ministry said it detected the drone incursion late on Saturday, and scrambled two F-16 fighter jets as well as two Eurofighters – part of German air policing missions in Romania – while also warning citizens to take cover.
It said the jets followed the drone until “it disappeared from the radar” near the Romanian village of Chilia Veche.
Minister of National Defence Ionut Mosteanu said the F-16 pilots came close to taking down the drone before it left the country’s airspace, adding that helicopters would survey the area near the border to look for potential drone parts.
“But all information at this moment indicates the drone exited airspace to Ukraine,” he told the private television station Antena 3.
Romania, an EU and NATO state which shares a 650km (400-mile) border with Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the social media platform X that data showed the drone breached about 10km (6 miles) into Romanian territory and operated in NATO airspace for about 50 minutes.
He alleged that the Russian military knows exactly where its drones are headed and how long they can operate in the air.
“It is an obvious expansion of the war by Russia – and this is exactly how they act,” Zelenskyy said.
“Sanctions against Russia are needed. Tariffs against Russian trade are needed. Collective defence is needed.”
Sweden also condemned the drone incursion in Romania.
Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard wrote on X that the breach was “another unacceptable violation of NATO airspace”.
“Sweden stands in full solidarity with Romania as a NATO Ally and EU Member State. We are always ready to contribute further to the deterrence and defence of the Alliance.”
NATO had announced plans to beef up the defence of Europe’s eastern flank on Friday, after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace, the first known shots fired by a member of the Western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
While Russia denies targeting Poland, several European countries, including France, Germany and Sweden, have stepped up their support for defending Polish airspace in response.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, expressed concern at the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace, but said that it remained unclear if it was a deliberate act by Russia.
“We think it’s an unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development,” Rubio told reporters before departing on a trip to Israel and the United Kingdom.
“No doubt about it: the drones were intentionally launched. The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically.”
Rubio said that if the drones were targeted at Poland, “if the evidence leads us there, then obviously that’ll be a highly escalatory move”.
“There are a number of other possibilities as well, but I think we’d like to have all the facts and consult with our allies before we make specific determinations,” he added.
The comments echo suggestions by US President Donald Trump that the Russian incursions into Polish airspace were a mistake.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, however, has dismissed that.
“We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it,” Tusk said on X on Friday.
Trump, meanwhile, said on Saturday that he was ready to impose major sanctions on Russia – just as soon as all NATO nations did the same thing and stopped buying Russian oil.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions against Russia without following through.
Source:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
