Four NATO Fighter Jets Scrambled Over Russian Drone Attack

Story by Jordan King

• 1d • 2 min read

Four NATO fighter jets were scrambled and an emergency alert issued in response to a Russian drone attack on targets near the Romanian border in Ukraine's Odesa region.

The jets were deployed after Russian drones were detected near Romanian airspace flying toward Ukrainian territory in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the country's Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.

It comes amid several recent reports of Russian drones flying into NATO territory, leading to calls from the Bucharest 9 bloc for a "collective answer" from the alliance.

After the drones were detected, two Spanish Air Force F-18 aircraft, part of NATO's Air Policing Combat Service, and two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft were scrambled to "monitor the situation."

Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter planes fly above the Baza 86 military air base, outside Fetesti, Romania, on November 13. Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter jets were two of the four NATO jets Romania set up. AP© AP

Romania also issued emergency alerts for people living near the Ukrainian border in Tulcea and Galați Counties at 2:41 a.m. local time. The two Spanish jets had completed their mission by 3:00 a.m., while the Romanian aircraft had done so by 5:00 a.m.

"During this timeframe, Romania's radar surveillance system did not detect the intrusion into the national airspace of the drones involved in the attack against the Ukrainian targets," the Ministry of National Defense said in its statement.

It went on to condemn "these attacks conducted by the Russian Federation against certain facilities and elements of Ukrainian civil infrastructure, which are unjustified and seriously violating the international law norms."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.

A few weeks ago, the Bucharest 9 bloc—consisting of Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia—issued a joint statement voicing concerns about the possibility of Russian drones and missiles landing in NATO territory.

Independent Russian outlet Verstka has reported that debris from missiles and drones had landed in countries neighboring the conflict 34 times, on 20 occasions in NATO member states.

Romanian territory has been affected 13 times, often close to Ukrainian Danube ports that are frequent Russian targets.

"We express our profound concern over the repeated incursions of NATO airspace…by the Russian Federation's drones and missiles, and the escalations of tensions along NATO's borders," the bloc said.

Latvia's government said that a Russian drone had come down in the east of the country on September 7, likely after crossing the border into the NATO nation from Russian ally, Belarus.

Separately, but on that same weekend, Romania's foreign ministry said "criminal" Russian drones had violated Romania's airspace while targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

Four NATO Fighter Jets Scrambled Over Russian Drone Attack (msn.com)