Romania has reported a breach of its airspace by a Russian drone, marking the second NATO country to make such claims recently. The Romanian Ministry of Defence indicated that fighter jets were already in the air monitoring Russian attacks in Ukraine on Saturday when they detected the drone near the southern border of Ukraine. The drone was located approximately 20 kilometers southwest of the village of Chilia Veche before it disappeared from radar, though officials stated it did not pass over populated areas and posed no imminent danger.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the drone incursion as an intentional escalation of the conflict by Russia, while Moscow has yet to respond to these allegations. Earlier in the week, Poland announced that it had shot down at least three Russian drones that had entered its airspace, leading Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to declare that preventative aviation operations are underway, with ground-based air defense systems at peak readiness. Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry claimed there were “no plans” to target Polish facilities, and Belarus attributed the drone’s entry into Polish airspace to accidental navigation issues.
In addition to these developments, the Czech Republic recently sent a special operations helicopter unit to Poland as a precautionary measure in response to the increasing tensions along NATO’s eastern flank. This unit comprises three Mi-171S helicopters equipped for combat and personnel transport.
U.S. President Donald Trump commented on the airspace breaches, suggesting a readiness to impose tougher sanctions on Russia contingent upon certain agreements from NATO countries, particularly regarding their purchase of Russian oil. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, military activities and counteractions by NATO countries have heightened at various points along the border.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80g7g5rmlno?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss