Romania deployed fighters on November 19 after detecting a UAV entering the country's airspace while Russia attacked Ukraine's infrastructure, the Romania Defense Ministry said.
The European Union (EU) member state and NATO share a 650km border with Ukraine and have repeatedly recorded UAV debris falling on its territory as Russia attacked Ukrainian port infrastructure across the Danube River.
The Romania Defense Ministry said that radar detected a UAV signal at a location 8km from the border, near Periprava and Chilia Veche villages in Tulcea County.
The UAV signal then disappeared from radar and reappeared intermittently for 12 minutes near villages in Galati County.
Authorities have warned residents in two counties, including Tulcea and Galati, southeast of the country, to seek shelter. However, the country has not recorded any reports of UAVs falling into its territory.
Initially, the two Eurofighters sent to Romania for NATO air patrolling were ordered to take off, followed by two Romania F-16 fighters.
Also on November 19, Poland - a NATO member bordering western Ukraine - temporarily closed the southeastern Rzeszow and Lublin airports and deployed Polish and its allies' aircraft as a preventive measure to protect airspace.
express-range fighter jets and an early warning aircraft have taken off, and ground radar anti-aircraft and monitoring systems have reached their highest level of readiness, the Polish combat command said in a post on X.
