Romania has become the last NATO member state to report a drone incursion in its airspace on Saturday, while Plane blurred in Poland in response A fresh Russian drone strikes just over the border in Ukraine.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia deliberately extended its drone operations and that the West should respond with more strict sanctions and narrower cooperation.
In Washington, President Trump said he was ready to impose major sanctions on Russia – As soon as all NATO nations did the same thing and stopped buying Russian oil.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that the country’s airspace was raped by a drone during a Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine infrastructure.
The country scraped two F-16 fighter planes late on Saturday to monitor the situation following strikes, said a statement from the Ministry of Defense.
The jets “detected a drone in national airspace” and followed it until “it disappears from the radar” near the Romanian village of Chilia Vche, “he added.
Tobias Schwarz / AFP via Getty Images
Also on Saturday, Poland said that and its NATO allies had deployed helicopters and planes while Russian drones hit Ukraine not far from its border.
Due to the threat of the drone, “Polish and allies planes operate in our airspace, and air defense and radar recognition systems on the ground have reached their highest level of alert”, “The military command of the country published in a press release on X.
Later on Saturday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the high alert had been lifted, while warning: “We remain vigilant”.
Poland and its NATO country colleagues have been on their care since Warsaw said nearly 20 Russian drones entered its airspace during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
While Russia denies having targeted Poland, several European countries, including France, Germany and Sweden, have intensified their support for the defense of Polish airspace in response.
“Today, Romania has scrambled combat aircraft due to a Russian drone in its airspace,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Also today, Poland responded militarily to the threat of Russian attack drones”, which had also been active in different regions of Ukraine all day, he added.
The Russian army knows exactly where their drones are heading and how long they can operate in the air, “said Zelenskyy.
The latest drone incursions were “an obvious expansion of war by Russia,” he added.
What was necessary in response are new sanctions against Russia and a collective defense system, argued Zelenskyy.
“Do not wait for dozens of” shahed “and ballistic missiles before finally making decisions,” he warned, referring to Shahed drones designed by Iran that Russia uses.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed Russian drone in Polish airspace on Saturday in the week on Saturday.
If he turned out to be deliberate, “then obviously it will be … highly climbing,” he told journalists in Washington.
Mr. Trump’s suggestion Thursday that the incident could have occurred by “error”, was quickly rejected by Tusk.
