Romania was forced to scramble fighter jets early Tuesday after Russian drones breached deep into its territory entering four counties in what was the most serious incursion since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the defense ministry said.
One drone was reportedly still advancing deeper into the country. Two Eurofighters, part of German air-policing missions, were dispatched and tracked a drone in southeastern Tulcea county before it re-entered Ukraine.
Drones entered the counties of Vaslui which borders Moldova and Vrancea in eastern Romania, a first. Authorities warned residents of all four counties to take shelter.
It was the first time drones had entered Romanian airspace in daytime, Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said. He called off his visit to the Mihail Kogalniceanu military base in the Black Sea port of Constanta.
The defense ministry said the pilots had been given the green light to shoot down the targets but had not taken action.
The army later scrambled two Romanian F-16 fighter jets after radar showed a second airspace breach in the county of Galati in the country’s far southeast. The planes tracked it moving inland towards the county of Vrancea in eastern Romania, the ministry said.
Moldova, a non-NATO country bordering both Ukraine and Romania, separately said it had detected six drones in its airspace, including one uncrewed aerial vehicle that then traveled toward Romania.One drone fell on a house in Moldova. There was no immediate word about casualties. Authorities evacuated the area.
The EU and NATO member shares a 640-km land border with Ukraine and has had drones breach its airspace and fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly since Russia began attacking Kyiv’s ports across the Danube.
