NATO Allies on High Alert After Russian Drone Breaches Romanian Airspace Amid Escalating Ukraine War

Romania has become the latest NATO member to report a drone incursion into its airspace, triggering an immediate response from its defense forces and intensifying concerns across the alliance. The incident occurred on Saturday during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine.

Romania’s defence ministry confirmed that its airspace was breached, prompting the scrambling of two F-16 fighter jets late on Saturday. The jets detected and tracked a drone until it disappeared from radar near the Romanian village of Chilia Veche.

This event follows similar recent alarms in Poland, which also scrambled aircraft and deployed ground-based air defence systems on Saturday in response to fresh Russian drone strikes close to its border with Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later announced the lifting of the highest alert level but urged continued vigilance. These actions come just days after Poland reported nearly 20 Russian drones entering its airspace earlier last week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Russia’s actions, warning that Moscow is deliberately expanding its drone operations and calling for tougher Western sanctions and closer defence cooperation to counter what he termed an “obvious expansion of the war.”

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump reiterated his readiness to impose significant sanctions on Russia, conditioned on all NATO nations agreeing to do the same and ceasing Russian oil imports. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed concern over the incursions but questioned whether Poland was deliberately targeted, noting that a deliberate targeting would be “highly escalatory.”

Further escalating the conflict, a Ukrainian military intelligence source claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Saturday that struck one of Russia’s largest oil refining complexes, Bashneft in Ufa, causing minor damage and a fire. This attack, 1,400km from the frontline, marks Ukraine’s continued strategy to target Russian energy infrastructure in response to the ongoing invasion.

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