BUCHAREST, Romania >> Romania scrambled fighter jets today when a drone breached the country’s airspace during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure near the border, the defense ministry said.
Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said the F-16 pilots came close to taking down the drone as it was flying very low before it left national airspace toward Ukraine.
A threat of drone strikes also prompted Poland to deploy aircraft and close an airport in the eastern city of Lublin on Saturday, three days after it shot down Russian drones in its airspace with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies.
Romania, a European Union and NATO state which shares a 400-mile border with Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly since Russia began waging war on its n