UPDATED: Drone Breach in Romania, Airspace Alert in Poland as Russia Targets Ukraine

Romania and Poland both activated high-alert air defence measures on Wednesday as Russian strikes on Ukraine spilled close to NATO territory, prompting rapid military responses on both fronts.

Romania scrambled fighter jets after its radar detected a drone roughly eight kilometres inside national airspace near the villages of Periprava and Chilia Veche in Tulcea County, during a wider Russian assault on Ukrainian infrastructure along the Danube. The signal dropped off radar before reappearing intermittently for around 12 minutes near villages in neighbouring Galati County.

Two German-operated Eurofighters deployed first under NATO air policing duties, followed by two Romanian F-16s. Authorities warned residents in Tulcea and Galati counties to seek shelter. The defence ministry later said it had received no reports of any drone debris landing on Romanian soil, though the country has repeatedly seen Russian drone fragments fall across the river from Ukraine’s Danube ports.

Further north, Poland moved to protect its own airspace as Russian missile and drone attacks pushed westwards. Polish and allied aircraft were scrambled in the early hours after Ukraine issued nationwide air-raid alerts. The Polish armed forces said quick-reaction fighter pairs, an early-warning aircraft, and ground-based air defence units were placed at their highest state of readiness. As a precaution, Rzeszów and Lublin airports in southeastern Poland were temporarily closed.

Both Romania and Poland share long borders with Ukraine and have grown increasingly wary of spillover from Russia’s intensifying strikes, underscoring the persistent risk of miscalculation along NATO’s eastern flank.