NATO aircraft scrambled amid overnight Russian drone strikes on Ukraine
LONDON -- Two German fighter jets were scrambled to the Romanian-Ukrainian border on Tuesday night in response to a Russian drone attack in the frontier region, Romania's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 93 drones and two ballistic missiles into the country overnight, of which 62 drones and one missile were shot down or suppressed. The air force reported drone and missile impacts across 20 locations.
Oleg Kiper, the head of the regional Odesa administration, said drones hit infrastructure and production facilities in the city of Izmail on the Danube river, at the border with Romania -- a NATO member.
Fires broke out at the site of the attacks and at least one person was injured, Kiper said.
The attack prompted the scrambling of two German Air Force Typhoon fighters "to monitor the air situation in the border area with Ukraine, in the north of Tulcea County," Romania's Defense Ministry said in a statement posted to social media.
The German aircraft are currently deployed to Romania as part of NATO's Enhanced Air Policing missions, which were introduced along the bloc's eastern flank after Russia's seizure of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Romania's "aerial surveillance system" identified "groups of drones launched by the Russian Federation that attacked Ukrainian ports on the Danube," the ministry said. "During the mission, there were no penetrations of aircraft in the national airspace."
Allied aircraft are often scrambled in NATO nations like Poland and Romania in response to Russian long-range attacks in Ukraine, which regularly target locations along Ukraine's border with its NATO neighbors.
During previous attacks, Russian drones and missiles have entered NATO airspace. Crashed Russian munitions or fragments of them have been found in Romania, Lithuania and Latvia. Russian missile fragments have also been found in Moldova, which borders Ukraine to the southwest but is not a NATO state. NATO member Poland has also reported several violations of its airspace by Russian missiles and drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday night's strikes in Ukraine "only confirm the need to pressure Moscow, the need to impose new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy works fully."
"Thanks to all partners who help stop this Russian war," he added. "Together with the USA, Europe, and everyone who wants peace, we work daily to guarantee security. We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly reliable and lasting peace."
Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 43 Ukrainian drones overnight into Wednesday.
Temporary restrictions in flights were introduced at airports in Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Tambov and Nizhny Novgorod during the strikes, Russia's federal air agency Rosaviatsiya said.
