Romania: NATO member Romania has imposed additional flight restrictions in parts of its airspace along the Ukrainian border. The move comes after the discovery of drone debris on its territory near Ukrainian ports that had been attacked by Russia.
The Romanian Defence Ministry issued an order banning piloted and unmanned aircraft from flying within 30 kilometres of the border with Ukraine at an altitude of less than 4,000 metres (more than 13,000 feet). Romania has already imposed an 8-kilometre border exclusion zone for flights of less than 1,000 metres in some places since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Romania and Ukraine share a border of more than 100 kilometres along the Danube at a point where the river nears the Black Sea.
The Defence Ministry remarked that it had enforced the additional restrictions between its Danube river ports of Sulina and Galati because of Russia’s attacks nearby.
“Given the intensifying Russian attacks on Ukraine’s river ports, measures to extend restrictions were necessary to ensure more efficient monitoring and control of air space,” the Ministry noted.
Romania’s Foreign Ministry has twice summoned the Russian charge d’affaires following the discovery on Romanian soil of drone debris. The Defence Ministry further commented that it would deploy additional troops to southeastern Romania near the border with Ukraine and increase patrols and observation points in an effort to prevent risks to residents.
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s river ports across the Danube from Romania have increased since mid-July, when Moscow abandoned a year-old deal that lifted a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
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