BUCHAREST (Reuters) – A Russian drone may have violated the national airspace of NATO member Romania for a very short period of less than three minutes at night during an attack on neighboring Ukraine, the Romanian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
Three people were killed and 14 injured in the drone strike on the southern Ukrainian town of Izmail, across the Danube from Romania, Odesa regional prosecutors said on Friday. The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 24 of the 32 drones.
“The Romanian radar system has identified the possibility that one of the drones involved in the attack on Ukraine crossed Romanian airspace for a very short period of less than three minutes in… the border area,” the Romanian ministry said.
Romania has brought together two F-16 fighter jets and two Spanish F-18s to carry out air policing missions in the country for the rest of the year. Residents of the southeastern Romanian province of Tulcea were warned to take cover.
Romania shares a 650 km (400 mi) border with Ukraine. The Romanian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly seen Russian drone fragments fall on its territory over the past year, usually after being destroyed by Ukrainian air defenses.
However, on September 8, the airspace of both Romania and Latvia was violated by Russian drones, raising concerns about escalation.
Defense ministers of countries on NATO’s eastern flank this month called for a robust, coordinated alliance response to drone airspace intrusions, including the implementation of a rotationally integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) model.
