Putin war drone blows up ‘INSIDE Nato territory’ after Western F-16 warplanes are scrambled and air raid sirens blare

A RUSSIAN attack drone exploded inside Nato territory in a botched attack on Ukraine.

F-16 warplanes were scrambled as the assault is believed to have violated the airspace of Romania.

Footage showed a dramatic explosion believed to be on the Ukrainian side of the River Danube which forms the frontier with Romania.

But reports in Bucharest said the same wave of attacks that a Putin drone had crashed on the Romanian side.

The Russian incursion triggered the response by Nato fighters and an air raid warning to residents close to the Danube.

It comes just days after jets were scrambled on the border with Poland after a massive attack by Vlad.

Tensions remain high between Nato and Russia as the West continues to back Ukraine against Putin.

But the days are now counting down for new US President Donald Trump to take office on Monday.

He is believed to be preparing to prioritise a peace deal to try and end the bloody war which has been raging since February 2022.

Russia's latest attack came after Ukraine launched their largest strike of the wave with a clever "triple tap" wave of drones and missiles.

The Romanian defence ministry said: “At 1.35 am, two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, part of the Air Police Combat Service, took off from the 86th Air Base in Borcea to monitor the air situation. 

“The aircraft returned to base around 3.48am”

Nato officials were kept fully abreast of the suspected illegal incursion by Russia.

In a statement, the officials said: “The Ministry of National Defence sends a firm message of condemnation of these attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against Ukrainian civilian objects and infrastructure elements, which are unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law."

Putin will today be meeting with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian to sign a new 20 year pact between the two countries.

Iran has been key in supply drones to Russia - which have been used almost daily to pound Ukraine.

And it comes just one day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Kyiv and met with Ukraine's hero leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky and Starmer signed a new 100-year alliance between Britain and Ukraine.

The UK has been one of the biggest backers of Kyiv in the West.

The Sun exclusively revealed that British soldiers could form part of a peacekeeping force enforcing a buffer zone between Ukraine and Russia.

Starmer told us Trump is not about to pull the plug on Ukraine's war effort as key talks loom.

Speaking in Ukraine as Russian drones were shot down around him, the PM declared “nothing is off the table” in the UK’s hopes for “just and lasting” peace.

He told The Sun: “If there are to be security guarantees of some sort, the UK will play its part.”

In an interview in Kyiv, Sir Keir said he was confident Mr Trump will not walk away, saying the returning US leader — set to be sworn in next week — was “acutely aware” Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to escape scot-free with his aggression.

But the incoming White House team has made it clear Ukraine must be “realistic” in talks over surrendering territory to Russia.

One plan could see hundreds of British and French boots on the ground patrolling a demilitarised zone between Russia and Ukraine after the past three years of bloody war following the invasion.

But both the PM and Ukraine’s Zelensky said the idea of European peacekeepers would only be acted on if it would be a credible barrier to further Russian invasions.

Sir Keir said: “It’s important that, if we get to that stage, the guarantees are capable of — and effective in — guaranteeing an enduring peace, not a pause.”

Zelensky insisted foreign troops could only be “one segment” of a peace plan — insisting Ukraine still needed full Nato membership to prevent another war.

Yesterday was Sir Keir’s seventh meeting with Mr Zelensky — and his first visit to Ukraine since gaining power last July.

Their meeting was interrupted by air raid sirens and anti-aircraft fire as an unmanned Kremlin reconnaissance craft flew above the presidential palace.

Inside the building, a frustrated Mr Zelensky vented his exasperation against continued delays over Ukraine joining Nato, launching an astonishing broadside at the US and Germany for frustrating the process.

Flanked by Sir Keir, he asked of his nation’s membership: “If not now, then when?”

But the PM stopped short of naming a date for Ukrainian accession to the defence alliance.