NATO scrambles jets after deepest drone breach yet into Romania

BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romanian and German NATO fighter jets were scrambled on Tuesday near Romania's border with Ukraine to respond to a drone incursion that penetrated deeper than ever into Romanian airspace, in what Bucharest called a Russian provocation.

Defence Minister Ionut Mosteanu said the NATO pilots came close to shooting down a drone which had repeatedly entered the alliance member country's airspace, but had held off, over concern about causing damage on the ground.

Drone fragments without an explosive charge were later found on Romanian territory.

"We are dealing with a new Russian provocation against Romania, a drone which the Romanian army and German Eurofighters have tried to shoot down," Mosteanu said.

"My assumption is that (the pilots) analysed the potential collateral damage and ... chose not to engage."

Russian drones had struck Ukrainian ports overnight near the border with Romania, which lies across the Danube River.

Tuesday's breach was the 13th that Romania has reported into its airspace since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In addition to being the deepest, it was also the first to take place during daylight, rather than at night.

DRONE TRACKED MORE THAN 100 KM INLAND

The Romanian defence ministry said it initially scrambled two Eurofighters from a German air-policing mission in Romania, which tracked a drone in the southeastern county of Tulcea before it re-entered Ukraine.

The army later scrambled two Romanian F-16 fighter jets after radar showed a second airspace breach in the neighbouring county of Galati. Mosteanu said an additional two Eurofighters followed.

The ministry said the planes tracked the drone moving towards the county of Vrancea, which does not share a border with Ukraine and is more than 100 km inland.

Residents of all three counties were warned to take cover, a warning that was later lifted.

Romania shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine.

On a visit to U.S. troops at Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu air base, General Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said a new capability able to shoot down drones will be deployed to Romania.

"We have tested and it is in the final stages of being employed. Romanian soldiers and other alliance soldiers have been trained on this capability and I know you're going to see this capability in the (Danube) Delta very soon."

Romania has legislation in place enabling it to shoot down drones during peacetime if lives or property are at risk, but has not yet made full use of it.

Tensions have mounted along Europe's eastern flank in recent months after suspected Russian drones breached the airspace of several NATO states.

The latest breach comes as U.S. and Ukrainian officials have been holding clutch talks to narrow the gaps between them over a plan to end the war, after agreeing to modify a U.S. proposal that Kyiv and its European allies saw as a Kremlin wish list.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Jason Hovet; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Peter Graff)