NATO member Romania scrambles jets as Russian drone violates airspace

Kyiv: Two NATO members said on Sunday that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighbouring Ukraine while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day.

A drone entered Romanian territory early Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, Romania’s Ministry of National Defence reported.

The remains of a Shahed-type drone that crashed near the Etulia, Moldova, near the Moldova-Ukraine border in February.Credit: AP

Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to monitor the incursion. Residents of the southeastern Romanian counties of Tulcea and Constanta were warned to take cover.

“From existing data, the possibility of an impact zone on national territory was identified, in an uninhabited area near the village of Periprava,” the ministry added.

Ministry personnel were searching the area of impact.

Later on Sunday, Latvia’s Defence Minister Andris Sprūds said a Russian drone fell the day before near the town of Rezekne, and had likely strayed into Latvia from neighbouring Belarus.

Two F-16 fighter jets.Credit: nna\rmasters

Rezekne, home to over 25,000 people, lies some 55 kilometres west of Russia and around 75 kilometres from Belarus, the Kremlin’s close and dependent ally.

In Latvia, President Edgars Rinkevics posted on social media platform X that his government sought a common NATO response.

“The number of such incidents is increasing along the Eastern flank of NATO and we must address them collectively,” Rinkevics wrote.

While the incursion into Latvian airspace appeared to be a rare incident, Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on several occasions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, as recently as July this year.

Mircea Geoană, NATO’s outgoing deputy secretary-general and Romania’s former top diplomat, said on Sunday morning that the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace.

“While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Latvia’s military on Sunday similarly said there were no indications that Moscow or Minsk purposely sent a drone into the country.

In a public statement, the military said it had identified the crash site, and that a probe was ongoing.

Sprūds, the Latvian defence minister, sought to downplay the significance of the drone incursion.

“I can confirm that there are no victims here and also no property is infringed in any way,” Defence Minister Andris Sprūds told the Latvian Radio on Sunday, adding that any risks in the event were immediately eliminated: “Of course, it is a serious incident, as it is once again a reminder of what kind of neighbouring countries we live next to.”

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the incursions “a reminder (that) the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation go beyond Ukraine’s borders”.

“The collective response of the Allies should be maximum support for Ukraine now, to put an end to (Russian aggression), protect lives and preserve peace in Europe,” Sybiha said in a post on X.

In Ukraine, two civilians died and four more suffered wounds in a nighttime Russian airstrike on the northern city of Sumy, the regional military administration reported.

Two children were among those wounded, the administration said.

Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 58 from the massive Russian missile strike that on Tuesday blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in the eastern city of Poltava, regional Governor Filip Pronin reported. More than 320 others were wounded.

Since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the Russian military has repeatedly used missiles to smash civilian targets, sometimes killing scores of people in a single attack.

Also on Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agree that Moscow should be included in a future peace conference aimed at ending its invasion of Ukraine.

“There will certainly be a further peace conference, and the president (Zelensky) and I agree that it must be one with Russia present,” Scholz told Germany’s ZDF public television.

A previous peace conference June 15-16 in Switzerland ended with 78 countries expressing support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” but otherwise left the path forward unclear. Russia did not participate.

Ukraine’s Zelensky did not immediately comment on Scholz’s remarks, but said in a video address Sunday that he had held “important negotiations” with the German leader and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He did not give details.

AP, Reuters

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