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Romania's navy led multinational military drills in the Black Sea region Thursday that brought together U.S. and NATO troops as the 30-nation alliance looks to boost security on its southeastern flank amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. The sea and air exercises are part of a series of drills known as Sea Shield 2023 that involve some 3,400 military personnel from 12 NATO member countries and some partner nations. Romania's navy said Thursday's drills in the Mahmudia region of the Danube Delta, which flows into the Black Sea, would demonstrate how the combined forces would neutralise an enemy air landing in an area adjacent to such a waterway. More than 30 naval ships, 14 aircraft and 15 fast intervention boats and other patrol vessels are taking part in Sea Shield 2023, which started March 20 and runs until April 2. Anti-explosive divers have participated in drills, as have chemical, biological, and nuclear defence specialists. In response to Russia's February 2022 invasion of
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 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 metres (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 ..
An Air India plane departed from the Mumbai airport on Saturday morning for Romanian capital Bucharest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive. The flight, AI1943, took off from the Mumbai airport around 3.40 AM and is expected to land at the Bucharest airport around 10 AM (Indian Standard Time), senior government officials said. Indian nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road are being taken to Bucharest by Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated in the Air India flight, they noted. Air India will operate more flights on Saturday to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine. The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since the morning of February 24 and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest. Around 20,000 Indians, mainly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine, the officials said. Before the clos