BUCHAREST: Romania’s defense ministry said Saturday that the country’s airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine.
The incident came after Poland denounced the intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace this week, calling on Moscow to avoid further “provocations.”
NATO member Romania has had several drone fragments crash on its soil since Moscow invaded Ukraine, especially as Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian ports.
The country scrambled two F-16 fighter jets late on Saturday to monitor the situation following strikes on Ukraine, said a defense ministry statement.
The jets “detected a drone in national airspace” and tracked it until “it disappeared from the radar” near the village of Chilia Veche, it added.
The drone “did not fly over populated areas and did not pose an imminent threat to the safety of the population,” said the statement.
Teams were ready to be deployed “to begin searching for possible debris from the aerial vehicle.”
In February, Romania’s upper house of parliament adopted a law that makes it possible for the country to shoot down drones breaching its airspace.