Romania scrambles fighter jets after Russian drones approach border

Romania’s Defense Ministry deployed two Romanian F-16 jets and two Spanish F-18 jets on Friday after Russian drones targeted Ukrainian civilian infrastructure close to the border.

The jets were launched from the Borcea and Mihail Kogălniceanu air bases between 1:52 a.m. and 3:22 a.m. “to monitor the situation,” the ministry said in a statement Friday.

The Romanian Defense Ministry condemned the Russian attacks, calling them “unjustified” and in violation of international law.

“The Ministry of National Defense sends a firm message of condemnation of these attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against Ukrainian civilian objectives and infrastructure, which are unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law,” the statement reads.

According to the Romanian authorities, at least one of the Russian drones possibly crossed into Romania’s national airspace around 3 a.m. Friday for a period of less than three minutes.

“From the data available at this time, the existence of an impact area on the national territory has not been reported,” the ministry said in the statement.

It said it would carry out an investigation.