Russian Drone Enters Romanian Airspace, F-16s Deployed, Debris in Periprava

The radar surveillance system identified and tracked, on the night of Saturday to Sunday, the route of a drone that entered the national airspace and left our territory for Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense announced that it had raised two F-16 aircraft to monitor its route. There are also indications that pieces of a drone may have fallen in an uninhabited area of ​​Periprava, and the Romanian Defense Ministry forces are investigating. The Ukrainians claim that the drone crossed the Danube Delta.

The Ministry of National Defense (MApN) representatives announced that Russian forces resumed the series of drone attacks on civilian targets and port infrastructure in Ukraine, in the morning of September 8, near the border with Romania. Thus, the National Military Command Center (core) notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations regarding the establishment of measures to alert the population of Tulcea and Constanţa counties, being sent, at 2:20 a.m. and 2:38 a.m., RO-Alert messages.

“Starting at 2:25 a.m., two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force took off from the 86th Borcea Air Base to monitor the aerial situation. In the course of these events, the radar surveillance system identified and followed the route of a drone that evolved in the national airspace and that left the national territory towards Ukraine. The situation of the evolution of this drone was also monitored by the two F-16 aircraft, which returned to the base around 4:08 am. From the data available at this moment, the probability of the existence of an impact zone on the national territory, in an uninhabited area, near the town of Periprava, was indicated. The forces of the Ministry of National Defense are carrying out investigations in the area, starting this morning, with aerial means and ground teams”, the MApN representatives said in a press release.

MApN specified that it informed and informs the allied structures in real time about the situations generated by the attacks, remaining in permanent contact with them. Also, the Ministry of National Defense sends “a firm message of condemnation of these attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against some objectives and elements of Ukrainian civil infrastructure, which are unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law”.

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Russian attacks and demands respect for Romania’s airspace. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates its firm protest against the violation, once again, of Romania’s airspace. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically requests the cessation of repeated attacks against the Ukrainian population and civil infrastructure and the irresponsible escalation by the Russian Federation of the security situation, including at the border between Romania and Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands compliance with the norms of international law, including the inviolability of Romania’s airspace, and reiterates its strong condemnation of these illegal attacks”, said the MFA on Sunday.

In his turn, Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu claims that there were no particular problems and that such situations will be more frequent, in the context of the war in Ukraine.

It is the most advanced flight of a Russian drone in Romanian airspace. The drone of Iranian origin launched by the Russians would have crossed the Danube Delta, the Ukrainian aviation claims.

The Ukrainians claim that the Shahed drone would have penetrated Romanian territory at a distance of 70 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense neither confirms nor denies the information. According to the Ukrainians, the drone would have stayed in Romania’s airspace for almost an hour.