Romania scrambles jets, Poland closes airport over Russian drone alerts
Romania and Poland took urgent military measures on Sept. 13 in response to escalating threats from Russian drone activity near their borders with Ukraine.
The incidents come just days after Poland confirmed it had shot down Russian drones in its airspace during a mass aerial attack on Ukraine overnight on Sept. 10 — marking the first known case of a NATO member engaging Moscow’s military assets over its own territory since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Russia denied targeting Polish territory.
Romania’s Defense Ministry confirmed it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after detecting a drone breaching the country’s airspace during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure near the border. Authorities issued warnings to residents in Tulcea County, near the Danube Delta, to take cover.
The jets tracked the drone until it "dropped off the radar 20 km southwest of the village of Chilia Veche," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the "drone did not fly over inhabited areas and did not pose an immediate danger to the population."
Romania, a NATO and EU member, shares a 650-kilometer (400-mile) border with Ukraine and has repeatedly reported Russian drone fragments landing on its territory since the start of the full-scale invasion.
"Russian military personnel know exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can stay in the air," President Volodymyr Zelensky said, commenting on the attacks. "The routes are always calculated. This cannot be an accident, a mistake, or the initiative of some lower-level commanders. It is a deliberate expansion of the war by Russia. This is how they operate — small steps at first, and in the end, great losses."
Meanwhile, Polish and allied NATO aircraft were also deployed to protect Polish airspace on the same day due to a renewed threat of drone strikes in Ukraine. As a precaution, authorities temporarily closed Lublin Airport in eastern Poland.
The planes took part in an operation near the border with Ukraine "to ensure the security of our airspace," the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said.
"These actions are preventative in nature and aimed at securing airspace and protecting citizens, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened area." The statement made no mention of a direct airspace violation.
The Polish Air Navigation Agency confirmed that flight operations were suspended at Lublin Airport and within its controlled airspace zone on Sept. 13 as a precaution.
Romania has passed legislation allowing its military to shoot down unauthorized drones breaching national airspace during peacetime, but enforcement rules for that law have not yet been finalized.
NATO has pledged to bolster defenses along the alliance’s eastern flank in response to recent airspace violations and Russia’s increasingly aggressive use of drones in the region.
