Similar to the ones spotted over America, Romania and neighbouring Moldova on Tuesday have reported sighting mysterious ballons in 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.
The object was detected by the Romanian air force surveillance system said the defence ministry- specifying the objects looked like the weather balloons that were brought down by the US days ago. Romania has scrambled jet fighters while Maldova temporarily closed its air space.
Romania’s defense 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 ministry reported that the two MiG-21 LanceR aircraft stayed in the vicinity for about 30 minutes before returning to base. It also mentioned that the two aircraft did not confirm the presence of the aerial target, neither visually nor on the onboard radars.
Maldova in a statement, said that “given the weather conditions and the impossibility of observing and identifying the object and its flight path,” the airspace had been closed. The air space closure was called off once the authorities had established there was no threat to the safety of citizens.
The sighting of the unidentified balloon comes amidst the diplomatic spat between the USA and China as the former shot down a similar balloon that was apparently a weather satellite, launched by China for a survey. The Pentagon alleges it was part of an ongoing, global “fleet” of Chinese espionage balloons.