Romania once again scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after a group of drones was detected during russia's attack on Ukraine near the border; an aerial target was detected entering Romanian airspace for approximately 10 minutes, the country's Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday, according to UNN.
Details
As stated, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence's radar surveillance system, at 01:27 local time on the night of August 12–13, "detected a group of five aerial targets in the area of Izmail, over Ukrainian territory, near the river border with Romania."
Measures were taken to alert the population in the northern part of Tulcea County, and an RO-Alert message was sent at 01:30.
"Two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force from the 86th Air Base in Borcea were scrambled to monitor the situation. Ground-based radars detected an aerial target entering national airspace approximately 2 km south of the town of Pardina. The target remained in national airspace for approximately 10 minutes along the Chilia branch, after which it left Romanian territory in the direction of Ukraine approximately 13 km southwest of the settlement of Chilia Veche," the Romanian Defense Ministry stated.
"Shortly after leaving Romanian airspace, reports of explosions were received on Ukrainian territory," the statement said.
The air raid alert issued for the north of Tulcea County ended at 02:42.
"The Ministry of National Defence is continuously monitoring the situation and informing allied structures in real time about such events," the statement said.
Later, Romania's Defense Ministry issued a new statement: "On Thursday morning, August 13, at 09:02, the radar surveillance system of the Ministry of National Defence detected an aerial target near the river border with Ukraine. Two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force from the 86th Air Base in Borcea were scrambled at 09:20 to monitor the situation."
The population in Tulcea County was alerted again, with an RO-Alert message issued starting at 09:13.