A Shahed drone launched by Russia crossing Romanian airspace during the night of September 7 to 8 was spotted and followed by NATO fighter jets, the Romanian Ministry of Defence (MApN) announced. Another one might have crashed on Romanian territory but was not found yet.

"A group of attack drones violated Romania's airspace," the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Telegram at 02:49, according to Hotnews.ro.

At the same time, a Russian drone was confirmed by another NATO member country, Latvia, as having crushed on its national territory.

Two F-16 fighter jets were lifted in Romania after midnight, at 02:25, to monitor the airspace in the context of Russia launching an attack against Ukraine's civil and port infrastructure target. At the same time, the civilian population received alerts, which are typically sent during such attacks in the immediate vicinity of the Romanian border.

The MApN also mentioned a possible "impact area," most likely the place where another drone might have hit the national territory.

Romania's Foreign Ministry called in a statement for the end to the repeated attacks against the Ukrainian population and civilian infrastructure and the irresponsible escalation by the Russian Federation of the security situation, including at the border between Romania and Ukraine.

Both ministries confirmed they are in contact and constantly informing the NATO Allied structures of the developments.

In similar situations, NATO stressed that the Russian drones were not aimed against Romanian/NATO targets, playing down the importance of the incident.

In a post on X, outgoing Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana said, commenting on the latest incident, that "NATO condemns the overnight Russian airspace violation into Romanian airspace. While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous."

NATO condemns the overnight Russian airspace violation into Romanian airspace. While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

— Mircea Geoana (@Mircea_Geoana) September 8, 2024

iulian@romania-insider.com

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