Bucharest mobilized military aircraft and issued warnings to the population to seek shelter. The bombing of Ukrainian territory left at least nine people dead.
BUCHAREST — Romania, a member of the European Union and NATO, deployed combat aircraft in the early hours of Wednesday after a drone violated its airspace during a Russian attack directed at Ukrainian infrastructure near the border, according to the Ministry of Defense. The incident activated alerts in the counties of Tulcea and Galati, in the southeast of the country, and intensified regional concern regarding the escalation of hostilities in the border zone.
The ministry detailed that radar detected the presence of a drone approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) inside national airspace, near the localities of Periprava and Chilia Veche in Tulcea county. The signal was lost momentarily before reappearing intermittently for 12 minutes in the vicinity of villages in Galati county. Facing this situation, authorities issued a telephone alert asking residents of both regions to seek shelter.
In response to the incursion, Romania mobilized two Eurofighter jets—part of the German air policing mission in the country—and subsequently deployed two F-16s from its own air force. The Romanian Ministry of Defense noted that, despite the violation of airspace, it received no reports of impacts on national territory.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Romania has experienced multiple similar incidents, including the fall of Russian drone fragments on its territory during attacks against Ukrainian port infrastructure on the other side of the Danube River.
The situation on the Romanian-Ukrainian border coincided with an increase in Russian attacks in different regions of Ukraine, which between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning caused at least nine deaths in Ternopil, in the west of the country, and left 36 injured in the Kharkiv region, according to reports from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and local authorities. The attacks included the launch of multiple drones and missiles over residential zones, causing damage to buildings and placing the entire country under air alert.
In parallel, Poland, also a NATO member and neighbor of Ukraine, temporarily closed the airports of Rzeszow and Lublin and deployed Polish and allied aircraft as a precaution against the possibility that drones or missiles could cross its airspace. The coordinated actions of Romania and Poland reflect the growing anxiety in Eastern Europe regarding the intensification of Russian attacks and the risk that the conflict could spread beyond Ukrainian borders.
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