Romania, Moldova both report strange objects in their skies

Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighbouring Moldova temporarily closed its air space Tuesday after authorities in both countries reported mysterious weather balloon-like objects traversing their skies.

Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighbouring 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 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 metres.

"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.

The events follow a string of comparable incidents this month in the U.S., in which objects detected and shot down by warplanes included a high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace. China said it was a weather balloon that had accidentally drifted off course.

The incident in Moldova triggered widespread travel disruption and brief panic when authorities temporarily closed the country's airspace over what they later described as an object "similar to a weather balloon" spotted near the northern border with Ukraine.