Heightened European Concerns: Military Responses to Russian Drone Activity

The European landscape is experiencing heightened concern following incidents involving Russian drones. Poland and Romania have taken military actions in response. Poland deployed aircraft, including allied planes, and temporarily shut down Lublin airport. This comes after previous incursions of Russian drones into Polish airspace. Romania, a member of both the European Union and NATO, also scrambled fighter jets when a drone entered its airspace near the border with Ukraine. The Polish Operational Command posted a statement emphasizing heightened alertness of air defenses. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted the drone’s incursion into Romanian airspace, where it reportedly flew approximately 10 kilometers into Romanian territory, operating in NATO airspace for about 50 minutes.