Romania scrambled jets after drone breached airspace during Russian attack

14/9/2025 5:53

Romania scrambled fighter

jets on Saturday when a drone breached the country's airspace

during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure near the

border, the defense ministry said.



Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said the F-16 pilots came

close to taking down the drone as it was flying very low before

it left national airspace toward Ukraine.

A threat of drone strikes also prompted Poland to deploy

aircraft and close an airport in the eastern city of Lublin on

Saturday, three days after it shot down Russian drones in its

airspace with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies.

Romania, a European Union and NATO state which shares a 650-km

(400-mile) border with Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments

fall onto its territory repeatedly since Russia began waging war

on its neighbor.



On Saturday, it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and later

two Eurofighters - part of German air policing missions in

Romania - and warned citizens in the southeastern county of

Tulcea near the Danube and its Ukrainian border to take cover,

the defense ministry said in a statement.



It added the jets detected a drone in national airspace,

which they followed until it dropped off the radar 20 km

southwest of the village of Chilia Veche.



Mosteanu told private television station Antena 3 that

helicopters will 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."



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media

platform X that data showed the drone breached about 10

kilometers into Romanian territory and operated in NATO airspace

for around 50 minutes.



"It is an obvious expansion of the war by Russia – and this

is exactly how they act," he said. "Sanctions against Russia are

needed. Tariffs against Russian trade are needed. Collective

defense is needed."

NATO announced plans to beef up the defense 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.

Romanian lawmakers approved a law earlier this year enabling the

army to shoot down drones illegally breaching Romanian airspace

during peacetime, based on threat levels and risks to human life

and property, but the bill does not yet have all enforcement

rules approved.



Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard wrote on

platform X that the airspace 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."