War in Ukraine: After overnight Russian drone strike, Romania worries about possible violation of its airspace

Romanian military radars detected a possible violation of the country’s airspace during nighttime attacks by Russian drones against civilian infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine, the Defense Ministry announced on Saturday.

NATO member Romania has become vital to Ukraine since the July suspension of a deal allowing Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. Suspected pieces of Russian drones have been found on Romanian territory three times this month, highlighting the dangers of NATO, whose members owe each other mutual aid.

“The radar monitoring system of the Romanian army has identified an unauthorized violation of the national airspace, a signal was detected on the route to the city of Galati,” the defense ministry said, adding that search teams had been suspended.

“So far, no object that fell in the national territory has been identified. The search continues today,” it added. Residents of Tulsia and Galati districts were warned by phone by authorities that drones heading towards Ukraine were detected near the border.

NATO and officials in Bucharest said there was no evidence the Russian strikes near the border were a deliberate attack on Romania, while calling the strikes reckless and destabilizing.