Romania, Moldova both report strange objects in their skies
- Small objects resembling weather balloons seen over the two Eastern European countries, both which border Ukraine
- It was unclear whether the two incidents were related, and neither country said where they believed the objects had come from
Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighboring Moldova temporarily closed its air space Tuesday after authorities in both countries reported mysterious weather balloon-like objects traversing their skies.
The incidents occurred at around midday local time and briefly raised concerns in the two Eastern European countries, both which border Ukraine and have been affected by Russia’s war.
Romania’s defence ministry said it deployed two jets that are under Nato command to its southeastern skies to seek an aerial object it described as being small with “characteristics similar to a weather balloon”.
It had been detected initially by radar systems in Romanian airspace at an altitude of about 11,000 meters (36,000 feet).
“The crews of the two aircraft did not confirm the presence of the aerial target, neither visually nor on the onboard radars,” a ministry statement said, adding that the two MiG-21 LanceR aircraft stayed in the vicinity for about 30 minutes before returning to base.
It was unclear whether the two incidents were related, and neither country said where they believed the objects had come from.