Romania’s military scrambled F-16s fighter jets after a Russian kamikaze drone attack on Ukrainian Danube ports on NATO-member Romania’s border.
The Romanian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday it was increasing airspace monitoring measures and an investigation found that the Russian drones fell on its territory “by accident”.
The Iran-manufactured Shahed robot plane reportedly struck and blew up in the vicinity of the Romanian village of Plauru, in southeastern Romania, Ukrainian media reported.
“At 02:19, two Romanian Air Force F-16s took off from the airbase in Borcea (RoAF 86th Air Base) to monitor the situation in the airspace. The fighters returned to the base around 04:20”, a Romanian defense ministry statement said.
Ukrainian social media video from the port of Izmail, opposite Plauru, showed an orange flash lighting up the night horizon and a boom on the Romanian side of the river. Flames and smoke billowed hundreds of meters following the explosion caused by a Russian kamikaze drone strike against Izmail.
Bucharest said it would send a team to the village of Plauru, on the opposite side of the Danube near Izmail, to search for wreckage of downed drones.
Air raid warnings were issued in the Tulcea area, opposite Izmail on the Romanian side of the Danube. Ten people called the emergency service alarmed by the explosions.
Izmail authorities reported that the attack damaged the port infrastructure of a residential building and injured three people.
There were have been repeated cases of drone debris falling on Romania after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Romanian authorities have issued air-raid warnings for local residents.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian operators based in Crimea launched the Kremlin’s latest bombardment shortly after midnight Wednesday.
Romanian authorities last confirmed a Russian weapon struck Romanian territory in September 2023. President Klaus Iohannis called the strike a “violation of our sovereign air space” and said he had discussed the attack with Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general.
