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Two NATO Members Say Russian Drones Have Violated Their Airspace

A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)
A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)
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Two NATO Members Say Russian Drones Have Violated Their Airspace

A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)
A local resident walks past a destroyed vehicle following the shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Makiivka (Makeyevka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 8, 2024. (Reuters)

Two NATO members said Sunday that Russian drones have violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day.

A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, Romania's Ministry of National Defense reported. It added Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions.

It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited zone along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.

Later on Sunday, Latvia’s Defense Minister Andris Sprūds said that a Russian drone fell the day before near the town of Rezekne, and had likely strayed into Latvia from neighboring Belarus.

Rezekne, home to over 25,000 people, lies some 55 kilometers (34 miles) west of Russia and around 75 kilometers (47 miles) from Belarus, the Kremlin’s close and dependent ally.

While the incursion into Latvian airspace appeared to be a rare incident, Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on several occasions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, as recently as July this year.

Mircea Geoana, NATO's outgoing deputy secretary-general and Romania's former top diplomat, said on Sunday morning that the military alliance condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace. “While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on X.

Latvia's military on Sunday similarly said that there were no indications that Moscow or Minsk purposely sent a drone into the country. In a public statement, the military said it had identified the crash site, and that a probe was ongoing.

Sprūds, the Latvian defense minister, sought to downplay the significance of the drone incursion.

“I can confirm that there are no victims here and also no property is infringed in any way,” Defense Minister Andris Sprūds told the Latvian Radio on Sunday, adding that any risks in the event were immediately eliminated: “Of course, it is a serious incident, as it is once again a reminder of what kind of neighboring countries we live next to.”

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Harris, Trump to Clash in High-Stakes Debate

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris meets with patrons at Penzeys Spices during a campaign stop, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris meets with patrons at Penzeys Spices during a campaign stop, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP)
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Harris, Trump to Clash in High-Stakes Debate

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris meets with patrons at Penzeys Spices during a campaign stop, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris meets with patrons at Penzeys Spices during a campaign stop, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP)

It will be the first time Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet in person -- and millions of Americans will get a ringside seat.

The Democratic vice president and Republican former president will face off in Philadelphia on Tuesday in their first -- and possibly only -- televised debate before what promises to be a nail-bitingly close 2024 election.

The high-stakes ABC debate will be a chance for US voters to finally see the two go head-to-head, after a month of shadow-boxing since President Joe Biden threw in the towel as candidate.

The gloves will be off in what is a critical test for both.

Harris, 59, has turbocharged and unified the Democratic party, and will now face an opponent who has called her "crazy" and subjected her to racist and sexist taunts.

America's first female, Black and South Asian vice president has overhauled Trump's lead in the polls but insists she remains the "underdog" in a tight race.

Knowing what's at stake, she is spending five days holed up in the nearby city of Pittsburgh preparing for the debate.

The 78-year-old Trump is meanwhile expected to opt for an aggressive approach, after Harris's entry into the race upended his White House bid and turned him into the oldest candidate in US history.

"These are two very different candidates that have previously never met in person," Erin Christie, of the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information, told AFP.

"So, it will prove to be a very enlightening debate which could even be the make-it-or-break-it factor in the election."

That lack of any prior face time is a result of Trump having refused to attend Biden's inauguration after falsely claiming he was cheated in the 2020 election.

Adding an extra frisson is the fact that the debate is happening in Pennsylvania, the most bitterly-fought of the battleground states that will decide the election.

Tuesday's debate could meanwhile be the last. Harris and Trump have not agreed to any more, and this one is only happening after a bitter row ended with Harris's camp reluctantly agreeing to have the candidates' microphones muted while the other is speaking.

Americans will now be watching closely to see how it actually plays out on stage.

- 'Break out the popcorn' -

While opinions differ about how much US presidential debates generally move the polls, there is no doubt they can cause political earthquakes on occasion.

It is after all just over two months since Biden was forced to drop his bid for a second term after a disastrous debate against Trump sparked Democratic concerns about his age and mental fitness.

Biden himself will be watching on Tuesday, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday. "The vice president is smart. She is someone that knows how to get the job done," added Jean-Pierre, a former senior aide to Harris during her failed 2020 campaign.

While few are predicting anything quite as dramatic from Tuesday's encounter between Trump and Harris, it still has the potential to be a decisive moment in the final sprint to November 5.

And despite their differences both will have the same goal -- to reach out to a core of undecided voters in a deeply polarized America.

In the red corner, Harris will rely on her coolly cutting style and her history as a prosecutor, as she takes on a convicted felon who also faces charges of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss against Biden.

But she will still however have to battle sexist and racist stereotypes about "angry Black women," said Rebecca Gill, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

While Harris will also face pressure to be less vague on policy, her campaign is expected to keep up the "do no harm" strategy that has seen Harris give just one televised interview since replacing Biden.

In the blue corner, Trump's challenge will be to decide just how much Trump voters want.

Trump's angry, rambling style fires up his right-wing base but it remains to be seen how it will play against a candidate vying to be America's first Black woman president.

All eyes will be on ABC's moderators too to see if they fact-check what will be a stream of falsehoods, if Trump's six previous presidential debates are anything to go by.

"This debate may go down in the history books. Break out the popcorn," said Andrew Koneschusky, a former press secretary for US Senate leader Chuck Schumer.