Night under alert in Tulcea: two RO-ALERT messages and F-16 planes lifted from the ground after the Russian attacks on the border
The residents of the north of Tulcea county were warned by two RO-ALERT messages on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, after the Russian forces launched new attacks on civil and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, located in the immediate vicinity of the river border with Romania.
Two F-16 aircraft took off to monitor the situation
According to the Ministry of National Defense (MApN), the surveillance systems detected groups of drones heading towards the Ukrainian towns of Vâlcove and Ismail.
The first RO-ALERT message was issued at 02:37, after the detection of a group of drones in the direction of Vâlcove.
The second alert message was sent to the population on 05.08, in the context of a new wave of drones moving towards the port of Ismail.
Two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force took off from the 86th Air Base in Fetești to monitor the situation. In parallel, Romania's anti-aircraft defense systems were moved into firing positions.
In both extreme alert messages, the population was instructed to protect themselves from the possibility of objects falling from the airspace. However, MApN confirmed that “no unauthorized incursions into national airspace were reported.“
The air alert status was officially lifted at 05:42.
These alerts arise in an increasingly tense security context at Romania's river border, today's incidents being preceded by a similar situation on the morning of Tuesday, April 14. Then, a RO-ALERT message was issued at 03:48, after a group of drones had been detected north of the town of Vâlcove, also requiring the raising of F-16 planes and the passage of anti-aircraft systems into firing positions. The frequency of these events is increasing, with the Ministry of National Defense already reporting 15 situations generated by Russian attacks near the border in the first two months of this year, in 10 of which it was necessary to activate the Air Police service to monitor the national space.
