Drone breaches Romanian airspace during Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania scrambled fighter jets on Saturday 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 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly since Russia began waging war on its neighbor.

On Saturday, it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and later two Eurofighters - part of German air policing missions in Romania - and warned citizens in the southeastern county of Tulcea near the Danube and its Ukrainian border to take cover, the defense ministry said in a statement.

It added the jets detected a drone in national airspace, which they followed until it dropped off the radar 20 km southwest of the village of Chilia Veche.

Mosteanu told private television station Antena 3 that helicopters will survey the area near the border to look for potential drone parts, "but all information at this moment indicates the drone exited airspace to Ukraine."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media platform X that data showed the drone breached about 10 kilometers into Romanian territory and operated in NATO airspace for around 50 minutes.

"It is an obvious expansion of the war by Russia – and this is exactly how they act," he said. "Sanctions against Russia are needed. Tariffs against Russian trade are needed. Collective defense is needed."

NATO announced plans to beef up the defense of Europe's eastern flank on Friday, after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace, the first known shots fired by a member of the Western alliance during Russia's war in Ukraine.

Romanian lawmakers approved a law earlier this year enabling the army to shoot down drones illegally breaching Romanian airspace during peacetime, based on threat levels and risks to human life and property, but the bill does not yet have all enforcement rules approved.

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard wrote on platform X that the airspace breach was "another unacceptable violation of NATO airspace." 

"Sweden stands in full solidarity with Romania as a NATO Ally and EU Member State. We are always ready to contribute further to the deterrence and defence of the Alliance."

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest; Additional reporting by Simon Johnson in Stockholm; Editing by Matthew Lewis)