Ukraine Shoots Down ‘Decoy’ Russian Balloons As Moldova, Romania Report High-Altitude Objects

Following last week’s balloon shootdown incidents over the United States, there have been a slew of fresh reports involving high-altitude balloon activity over eastern Europe, including incidents involving objects over Moldova, Romania, as well as potential ‘weaponized’ balloons over Ukraine.

“Ukraine’s army has said Russia fired 36 cruise missiles on Thursday, a day after six apparently radar-reflecting balloons were spotted over Kyiv,” BBC reports. Ukraine authorities have said the balloon activity is related to a change in Russian tactics, which have of late included sending wind-propelled reflective balloons over the capital and other cities in order to provoke an anti-air response.

“These objects could carry radar reflectors and certain reconnaissance equipment,” Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said. “The balloons were launched to detect and exhaust our air defense forces.”

The military further described that most balloons had been shot down, and they are intentionally designed to be picked up on radar as decoys.

“Balloons with reflectors have also been spotted over the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk in recent days,” BBC continues, also referencing photographs which surfaced on social media in recent days.

Tiny Moldova was among those earlier this week to close its airspace due to an unidentified object, now believed to be a balloon, and Romania even scrambled fighter jets in response to “an object resembling a weather balloon was spotted at a height of around 11,000 ft (3,350m),” according to official statements.

In a briefing, Romania’s defense ministry said the object wasn’t a threat upon closer review, and the it had “characteristics similar to a weather balloon” – but had been picked up on radar and warranted investigation.

The dispatched jets had surveyed the area for about 30 minutes, but “did not confirm the presence of the aerial target, neither visually nor on the onboard radars,” and afterward returned to base without incident, defense officials said.