Ukraine’s neighboring countries respond more actively to threat of Russian drones or missiles – air forces

Neighboring countries of Ukraine have started to react more actively to threats from Russian missiles and drones appearing near their borders.

Yurii Ihnat, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, discussed recent events on the national telethon, mentioning both Poland and Romania raising F-16 jets when Ukraine's territory was attacked by Russia, Rubryka reports.

"There are NATO centers in member countries. They coordinate and react to various threats. But each country also has its own Air Forces — Poland and Romania — and they have started reacting more actively to threats near their borders. The threats are well-known. These include combat drones and missiles that Russia often uses dangerously close to border areas," Ihnat said.

He noted that this mainly concerns the Prut-Dniester area, where port infrastructure, including in Ukraine, is being targeted, and the western Lviv region, with debris landing on Polish territory bordering the area.

On the night of February 10, Romania deployed F-16 fighters when Russia attacked Ukrainian port infrastructure in Izmail and Reni near the Ukrainian-Romanian border using drones.

As reported by Rubryka, on February 11, Moldovan border police found fragments of an unmanned aerial vehicle of the Shahed type in the area near the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, near the village of Etulia in the Vulcănești district. The drone attack occurred on the night of February 10 in the Izmail district, near the Moldovan border.

In September 2023, fragments of a Russian S-300 missile were reported to have fallen in the village of Chițcani in Transnistria. Moldova then sent military observers to the suspected crash site.

Later on, missile fragments were found in a lake near the village of Fîrlădeni in the Căușeni district of Moldova. Residents noticed some components in the lake that could have come from the missile that possibly fell in the area. Authorities confirmed that the debris was from an air defense missile.