NATO allies scramble fighter jets in response to Russian airspace violations over Poland and Romania

Romania, a NATO member, sent two fighter jets on Friday to monitor Russian attacks. Earlier, Norwegian F-35s were deployed on Wednesday after Russian aircraft approached Polish airspace.

An archival photo of a US Air Force F-35 participating in the "Ramstein Flag 2024" exercise in Greece on October 4, 2024, organized by NATO to strengthen cooperation and interoperability among 12 allied countries.

Photo: SEBASTIEN NOGIER/PAP/EPA

In the early hours of Friday, the Romanian Ministry of Defense confirmed an airspace violation during Russia's overnight attack on Ukraine.

A drone likely struck near the Romanian-Ukrainian border in the southeastern Tulcea district.

Fragments of Russian drones on Romanian territory and airspace violations have occurred regularly over the past year and a half, since the Russian Federation attacked the river port infrastructure on the Danube in Ukraine.

"Monitoring and surveillance systems of the Romanian Ministry of National Defense detected violations of Romania's airspace. Two F-16 jets from Romania were deployed to monitor the situation," the Romanian Ministry of National Defense stated via its official X account.

Forțele ?￰ﾟﾇﾺ au reluat atacurile cu drone asupra unor obiective din ?￰ﾟﾇﾦ, azi, în proximitatea frontierei cu ?￰ﾟﾇﾴ.
Sistemele de monitorizare și supraveghere ale MApN au semnalat încălcări ale spațiului aerian ?￰ﾟﾇﾴ.
2 F-16 ?￰ﾟﾇﾴau decolat pt. monitorizarea situației.https://t.co/0DBczFUE4w

— MApN (@MApNRomania) January 17, 2025

Earlier, two Norwegian F-35s stationed in Poland were deployed on Wednesday in response to a "massive number of airborne Russian aircraft" that approached Poland's airspace, NATO's Air Command said on Thursday.

"This is the first time Norwegian jets have scrambled in active air defense of Polish airspace, demonstrating Allied commitment to NATO's eastern flank," the command announced.

Yesterday, two ?￰ﾟﾇﾴ F-35s stationed in ?￰ﾟﾇﾱ scrambled in response to a massive number of airborne ?￰ﾟﾇﾺ aircraft

This is the first time the ?￰ﾟﾇﾴ jets have scrambled in active air defence of Polish Airspace, demonstrating Allied commitment to NATO's eastern flank pic.twitter.com/jpcfhxOSsx

— NATO Air Command (@NATO_AIRCOM) January 16, 2025

Source: IAR/mapn.ro/X/@MApNRomania/@NATO_AIRCOM

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