By AFP
An eurofighter jet of the TacticalAir Force Wing 74 of the German Armed Forces. Photo: AFP / Lukas Barth-Tuttas
Romania became the latest NATO member state to report a drone incursion into its airspace, as Poland scrambled aircraft in response to fresh Russian drone strikes just over the border in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was deliberately expanding its drone operations and that the West needed to respond with tougher sanctions and closer defence cooperation.
In Washington, US President Donald Trump said he was ready to impose major sanctions on Russia - just as soon as all NATO nations did the same thing and stopped buying Russian oil.
Romania's defence ministry said on Saturday the country's airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine.
A Russian drone flies during drone and missile strikes in Kyiv on September 7, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: GENYA SAVILOV
The country scrambled two F-16 fighter jets late on Saturday to monitor the situation following the strikes, said a defence ministry statement.
The jets "detected a drone in national airspace" and tracked it until "it disappeared from the radar" near the Romanian village of Chilia Veche, it added.
Also on Saturday, Poland said it and its NATO allies had deployed helicopters and aircraft as Russian drones struck Ukraine not far from its border.
Because of the drone threat, "Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached their highest level of alert," the country's military command posted in a statement on X.
Later on Saturday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the high alert had been lifted, while cautioning: "We remain vigilant."
A hole from the strike of a Russian drone is in the wall of an apartment block in the Prymorskyi district of Odesa, Ukraine, on September 7, 2025. Photo: NINA LIASHONOK
Zelensky's warning
Poland and its fellow NATO countries have been on their guard since Warsaw said nearly 20 Russian drones entered its airspace overnight on Tuesday to Wednesday.
While Russia denies targeting Poland, several European countries including France, Germany and Sweden have stepped up their support for defending Polish airspace in response.
"Today, Romania scrambled combat aircraft because of a Russian drone in its airspace," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Also today, Poland responded militarily to the threat of Russian attack drones," which had also been active in different regions of Ukraine all day, he added.
"The Russian military knows exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can operate in the air," Zelensky said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
The latest drone incursions were "an obvious expansion of the war by Russia", he added.
What was required in response were fresh sanctions against Russia and a collective defence system, Zelensky argued.
"Do not wait for dozens of 'shaheds' and ballistic missiles before finally making decisions," he warned, referring to the Iranian-designed Shahed drones Russia is using.
'Stop buying Russian oil'
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday expressed concern at the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace earlier in the week.
If it turned out to have been deliberate, "then obviously it will be... highly escalatory," he told reporters in Washington.
Trump's suggestion on Thursday that the incident might have happened by "mistake", was quickly dismissed by Tusk.
On Saturday, Trump returned to the issue of sanctions against Russia, putting the ball back in the court of his NATO allies.
"I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA," he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB
Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions against Russia without following through.
In Russia, an official reported that a Ukrainian drone had hit one of its largest oil refining complexes, 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) from the front line in Ukraine.
The drone had sparked a fire and caused minor damage at the complex, which belongs to Russian oil company Bashneft, and lies on the outskirts of the central Russian city of Ufa.
A source in Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency claimed responsibility for the attack.
Since Moscow launched its full-scale military offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has responded with attacks on Russian refineries in an attempt to curb the Kremlin's ability to fund the conflict through its fossil fuel industry.
- AFP
