Two NATO members say Russian drones violated their airspace

Mircea Geoana, NATO's outgoing deputy secretary-general and Romania's former top diplomat, said the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace. (Photo/AP)

Two NATO members said that Russian drones have violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighbouring Ukraine while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day.

A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, Romania's Ministry of National Defence reported. It added Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions.

It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited zone along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.

Later on Sunday, Latvia’s Defence Minister Andris Spruds said that a Russian drone fell the day before near the town of Rezekne, and had likely strayed into Latvia from neighbouring Belarus.

Rezekne, home to over 25,000 people, lies some 55 kilometres (34 miles) west of Russia and around 75 kilometres (47 miles) from Belarus, the Kremlin’s close ally.

Mircea Geoana, NATO's outgoing deputy secretary-general and Romania's former top diplomat, said on Sunday morning that the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace.

“While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on X.

Latvia's military on Sunday similarly said that there were no indications that Moscow or Minsk purposely sent a drone into the country. In a public statement, the military said it had identified the crash site, and that a probe was ongoing.

Spruds, the Latvian defence minister, sought to downplay the significance of the drone incursion.

“I can confirm that there are no victims here and also no property is infringed in any way,” Defence Minister Andris Spruds told the Latvian Radio on Sunday, adding that any risks in the event were immediately eliminated: “Of course, it is a serious incident, as it is once again a reminder of what kind of neighbouring countries we live next to.”

Civilians reported killed in Ukraine

In Ukraine, two civilians died and four more suffered wounds in a nighttime Russian air strike on the northern city of Sumy, the regional military administration reported. Two children were among those wounded, the administration said.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed later that day that its forces struck foreign pro-Kiev fighters in a village on Sumy's northern outskirts. It was not immediately clear whether this was a reference to the same attack.

In the Kharkiv region in the east, overnight shelling killed two elderly women, according to local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.

During the night, Ukrainian air defences shot down one of four cruise missiles and 15 of 23 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia, Ukraine's air force reported. It added that none of the cruise missiles had hit targets.

Later on Sunday, three women were killed after Russian forces shelled a village in the eastern Donetsk region, Gov. Vadym Filashkin reported on the Telegram messaging app. Elsewhere in the province, rescue teams pulled the bodies of two men from the rubble of a hotel destroyed on Saturday evening in a Russian air strike, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service.

That same day, the death toll rose to 58 from the massive Russian missile strike that on Tuesday blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in the eastern city of Poltava, regional Gov. Filip Pronin reported. More than 320 others were wounded.

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Source: TRT