War in Ukraine
Russian drones violate NATO airspace – and trigger an alarm in the air force
Bundeswehr soldiers prepare a German Eurofighter for take-off at the Mihail Kogalniceanu airfield, near Constanta (Romania).
© Bernd von Jutrczenka / DPA
Incident over Romania: During the war against Ukraine, Russian drones entered NATO airspace during the night. This did not go unnoticed by the German Air Force.
Russian drone attacks on Ukraine violated NATO airspace over Romania on Thursday night and triggered alarm takeoffs by German Eurofighters. According to information from the German Press Agency, Russian aircraft were identified by the German crews through visual contact without an order from NATO to shoot them down. Up to 70 Russian Shahed 136 drones were registered in the wave of attacks on targets in Ukraine, one of which, according to preliminary findings, also exploded over Romanian airspace.
According to this information, the attack was noticed at 9:42 p.m. German time and was reported to a multinational command post for the command of the air force NATO (“Combined Air Operations Center”) pursues. Accordingly, the order for an alarm start (“alpha scramble”) was given at 10:02 p.m. and the armed fighter aircraft were in the air at 10:11 p.m. The incident is assessed as significant.
Ukraine says it shoots down several Russian drones
According to its own information, the Ukrainian Air Force shot down 41 of 42 Russian combat drones during the night, mostly over the Odessa region bordering Romania. The Romanian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday a bomb crater 1.5 meters deep in the Danube Delta near the Romanian village of Grindu, 6.5 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. It was described as “possible” that it was a Russian drone.
The Air Force is currently involved in securing NATO’s southeastern flank with four fighter aircraft and armed protection flights from the Romanian military air base Mihail Kogalniceanu near Constanta. There have been several incidents of airspace violations on the Romanian side of the border with Ukraine. They were all related to Russian attacks on Ukrainian Danube ports. However, an analysis described as very precise has so far shown that these cases were not intentional on the Russian side.