Romania scrambles fighter jets during Russian attack on Ukraine near border

LONDON

Romania scrambled fighter jets when a drone breached its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine near the border, the country's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry said that first, two German Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft from Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base took off overnight to monitor the air situation on the border with Ukraine, following Russian air attacks in the vicinity of the river border with Romania.

Then the radar detected the signal of a drone 8 kilometers (4.9 miles) inside Romanian airspace near the villages of Periprava and Chilia Veche in Tulcea County, southeastern Romania.

Later the drone reappeared intermittently on radar for approximately 12 minutes, from neighboring Colibasi, Moldova to Foltesti, Romania and, subsequently, in the area of ​​Oancea, Romania.

The statement said two more Romanian Air Force F-16 jets took off from the 71st Air Base in Campia Turzii.

The Eurofighters landed at Mihail Kogalniceanu at 1.50 am (2350GMT) local time and the Romanian Air Force F-16s returned to the base in Campia Turzii around 2.30 am (0030GMT).

"No cases of impact with the ground of any aircraft were reported," said the ministry.