Romania scrambled fighter jets after a drone violated the country's airspace during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure near the border, the Defense Ministry said.
The threat of drone attacks also prompted Poland to deploy Polish and allied aircraft and close the airport in the eastern city of Lublin, three days after it shot down Russian drones in its airspace, with support from its NATO allies.
Romania, a member of the European Union and NATO, which shares a 650-kilometer border with Ukraine, has had several instances of Russian drone fragments falling on its territory since Russia began its war against its neighbor, Reuters reports.
On Saturday, Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and warned citizens in the southeastern county of Tulcea, near the Danube and the Ukrainian border, to take shelter, the ministry said.
It added that the fighters detected the drone in national airspace and tracked it until it disappeared from radar 20 kilometers southwest of the village of Kilija Veče.
"The drone did not fly over populated areas and did not pose an immediate danger to the population," the statement said.
NATO announced plans on Friday to bolster defenses on Europe's eastern flank, after Poland shot down drones that violated its airspace - the first known case of a member of the Western alliance opening fire during Russia's war in Ukraine.
Romanian lawmakers passed a law earlier this year that allows the military to shoot down drones that illegally enter Romanian airspace in peacetime, depending on the level of threat and risk to human life and property, but the law has not yet adopted implementing rules.
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