Fighter jets scrambled over alleged drone incursion at Serbia-Kosovo border

Unmarked drones appeared on the Kosovo-Serbia border "observing the barracks and the positions" of the Serbian army, Belgrade authorities claimed, prompting Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to order the country's fighter jets to intercept them.

The drones left the Serbian airspace before the warplanes reached their targets, public broadcaster RTS reported.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said in an interview with RTS on Tuesday evening that the drones were spotted while observing one military position on the Serbian side of the border and two barracks, adding that she did not want to speculate on the origin of the unmanned devices.

She emphasised that the order was to shoot down the drones on sight, and the Serbian authorities would be further monitoring the area.

"If these things keep happening, we will take down any such aircraft, just like any other country would," Brnabić added.

The drone sightings could not be independently verified.

The news of a drone incursion came after Vučić placed Serbian troops on the border with Kosovo on a heightened state of alert over a row about car licence plates that has threatened to further escalate tensions between the two Balkan countries.

Earlier, authorities in Pristina issued a warning demanding that members of the ethnic Serbian minority living in Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, replace their vehicle registration plates with Kosovar ones.

The warning came despite calls from the European Union and the United States to postpone any such requirement.

In response to Kosovo's move, Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vučević said that Vučić, who is the supreme commander of Serbia's armed forces, placed the military in a state of "readiness".

"We are not getting ready for a war, but we must not