Ukraine-Russia war latest: Romania scrambles jets accusing Moscow of another drone breach after Poland incursion

The Russian drone that reportedly made an incursion into Romanian airspace was spotted near the village of Chilia Veche, according to the Nato country’s defence ministry.

Romania scrambled F-16 fighter jets after detecting a drone breaching the country’s airspace.

The F-16 jets tracked the drone until it “dropped off the radar 20 km southwest of the village of Chilia Veche”, the ministry said in a statement.

Russia has test-fired its Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic cruise missile at a target in the Barents Sea off Norway’s coast, the country’s defence ministry said.

The thermonuclear-capable missile, which Putin calls an “invincible” weapon, can cover a range of over 1,000 km and target both enemy ships and ground targets.

When the missile was fired for the first time last year, Putin said it carries over Mach 8 speed and was part of Russia’s new generation of unrivalled arms systems.

Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that Nato allies placing a 50 per cent to 100 per cent tariff on China till Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ends “will be of great help in ending this deadly, but ridiculous war”.

“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip,” the US president said.

“If Nato does as I say, the war will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the US,” Trump wrote.

Russia and Belarus continued their joint military exercises yesterday, with parts of the Russian Northern Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Moscow Military District, and Aerospace Forces participating in ground, sea, and air defence drills.

The troops practised tactical techniques to “minimise the risk of detection by an adversary, defensive engineering techniques, drone aerial reconnaissance, and defending hazardous chemical facilities”, according to ISW.

They reportedly conducted the exercises at the 227th Combined Arms Training Ground in Barysaw, Minsk Oblast and the Lesishche Training Ground in Minsk Oblast.

The drills are part of plans to integrate Belarus into Russian-favourable frameworks, the ISW noted.

An Ukrainian drone has reportedly hit the Metafrax Chemicals plant in Russia’s Perm Krai, about 1,800 km (1,118 miles) from the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The drone hit an industrial center in the city of Gubakha, according to Russian opposition news channel Astra.

No casualties have so far been reported, and the enterprise continues to operate normally, according to the region’s governor Dmitry Makhonin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the US to impose tougher sanctions and trade restrictions against Moscow’s energy sector and other critical exports.

“We are counting on strong steps from the United States, in cooperation with others – strong sanctions and tariff policies – which will serve as an argument for many around the world,” the Ukrainian president said yesterday.

“Everyone sees that the Russian drones attacking Poland are also Putin’s war. And this is a warning not only to Poland but to all of Europe. Russian drones can travel much greater distances,” Zelensky said.

The European Union is reportedly considering a plan to fund Ukraine by replacing billions of euros from frozen Russian assets to EU-backed bonds.

Around 210 bn euros ($245.85 bn) of assets in Moscow’s central ban have been frozen across the West since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

A majority of these seized funds are held by Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear.

The new risky plan would allow Brussels to provide capital for Ukraine without actually seizing Russian assets, Politico reported.

While there’s no formal agreement on the plan, officials are reportedly viewing it with cautious optimism.

For the third time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Moscow’s troops have traversed via underground gas pipelines to advance behind Kyiv’s forces.

The recent use of this tactic again indicates that Russia is improving their ability to disseminate tactical lessons between troops on the front line, according to an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War.

Ukrainian intelligence reportedly found that Russian troops entered a gas pipeline in the forested area of Lyman Pershyi in the northeast of Kupyansk city, and travelled through the pipe for an estimated four days in electric scooters and modified wheeled stretchers to exit the pipe near Radkivka village.

Russia’s UN representative Vasily Nebenzya claimed on Friday that Poland “hastened to place the blame on Russia without presenting any evidence linking Russia to the incident”.

He denied that the drones which breached Poland’s airspace were of Russian origin, claiming that the range of the found drones does not exceed 700km.

Nebenzya shifted blame onto the West and European countries of using the Russian incursion into Polish airspace to spread “an information campaign” for guaranteeing new arms deliveries for Ukraine.

The Russian foreign affairs ministry also “refuted the speculations…about plans to attack one of the NATO countries”, adding that such statements could lead to “an inevitable escalation”.