War in Ukraine - Russian drones violate NATO airspace - and trigger an alarm in the air force
Russian drone attacks on Ukraine violated NATO airspace over Romania on Thursday night and triggered alarm launches by German Eurofighters. According to information from the German Press Agency, Russian aircraft were identified by the German crews, including by visual contact, without an order from NATO to shoot them down. Up to 70 Russian drones of the type Shahed 136 were registered during the wave of attacks on targets in Ukraine, one of which, according to preliminary findings, also exploded over Romanian airspace.
According to this information, the attack was noticed from 9.42 p.m. German time and was followed by a multinational command post for the command and control of NATO air forces ("Combined Air Operations Center"). According to this, the order to launch an alert ("Alpha Scramble") was given at 22:02 and the armed fighter aircraft were in the air at 22:11. The incident is considered significant.
Ukraine says it has shot down several Russian drones
According to the Ukrainian air force, 41 of 42 Russian combat drones were shot down during the night, most of them over the Odessa region bordering Romania. On Thursday, the Romanian Ministry of Defence reported a bomb crater 1.5 meters deep in the Danube delta near the Romanian village of Grindu, 6.5 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. It was described as "possible" that it was a Russian drone.
The air force is currently involved in securing the south-eastern flank of NATO with four fighter aircraft and armed protection flights from the Romanian military airfield Mihail Kogalniceanu near Constanta. On the Romanian side of the border with Ukraine, there were several incidents in which airspace was violated. They were all linked to Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube. So far, however, an analysis described as very precise has shown that these cases were not intentional on the part of Russia.
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- The Russian drone attacks, which violated NATO airspace over Romania, were monitored by the NATO's multinational command post, known as the Combined Air Operations Center.
- The Eurofighters of the German Air Force were among those that responded to the alarm due to the Russian drone intrusion into NATO's airspace.
- The German Press Agency reported that the Russian aircraft were identified during the incident, but no order was given to engage them as they did not pose an immediate threat to the NATO airspace.
- The NATO airspace violation by Russian drones occurred near Romania, a country that is currently contributing to securing the southern flank of NATO with its air force.
Source: www.stern.de
