“Two British fighter jets that scrambled from a Romanian air base received a green light to shoot down Russian drones flying not far from the border with the NATO country, Romania’s Defense Ministry has said.”

“Romanian and UK officials have stressed that the warplanes never entered Ukraine’s airspace, or opened fire on Russian UAVs.”

“In a statement on Saturday, the Romanian Defense Ministry said that RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets deployed at the 86th Air Base in Fetesti lifted off at 2 AM and established radar contact with a target 1.5 km from Reni, a Ukrainian port town on the bank of the Danube, barely a stone’s throw from Romanian soil.”

““The pilots had authorization to engage the drones,” the ministry said, adding that multiple explosions were subsequently reported in Reni.”

“After some media reports interpreted the statement as a greenlight to attack Russian UAVs over Ukrainian soil, the UK and Romanian defense ministries clarified to The Telegraph that the aircraft never entered Ukrainian airspace and did not engage any targets – returning to base without firing.”

“Officials in Bucharest also reported that a falling object in the area of Galati – a Romanian city directly across the Danube from Ukraine, adding that drone fragments damaged an outbuilding and an electricity pole, with no casualties.”

“Romanian officials subsequently accused Russia of “irresponsible” actions and the “lack of respect for the norms of international law and endanger[ing] not only the safety of Romanian citizens, but also the collective security of NATO.””