NATO fighter jets have been sent to Romania’s border after a Russian drone strike landed dangerously close to its territory.

The two German warplanes were deployed in the early hours of Wednesday to secure Romanian airspace when Russia launched nearly 93 drones and two ballistic missiles against Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said the Russian attacks targeted industrial sites in the city of Izmail on the Danube river, at the border with Romania – which is a NATO member.

In a statement on social media, the Romanian Defence Ministry said two German Air Force Typhoon fighters were scrambled “to monitor the air situation in the border area with Ukraine, in the north of Tulcea County”.

Romania’s “aerial surveillance system” identified “groups of drones launched by the Russian Federation that attacked Ukrainian ports on the Danube,” the ministry said.

“During the mission, there were no penetrations of aircraft in the national airspace.”

The German warplanes are based in Romania as part of a NATO aerial policing mission.

Meanwhile, Poland’s defence minister said that a flying object that crashed and exploded in a cornfield the country’s east early on Wednesday was identified as a Russian drone, calling it a provocation by Russia.

At a news conference in Warsaw, Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz accused Russia of provoking NATO during a crucial moment, as peace talks over the war in neighbouring Ukraine are underway, the country’s news agency PAP reported.

“Russia is provoking us once again,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said, just as peace talks have given hope that the war “has a chance of ending.” 

Police said they received reports of the crash around 2am and found burned metal and plastic debris at the scene, near the village of Osiny. The blast broke windows in some nearby houses, but nobody was injured, PAP reported.