Another drone briefly entered Romanian airspace on Monday morning, July 27, before flying to Ukraine, prompting the Romanian Air Force to scramble two F-16 fighter jets and authorities to issue a RO-Alert warning to residents in Tulcea County. Unlike the previous three incidents, the drone was not shot down.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of National Defense said its radar surveillance system detected the aerial target east of Sulina. Two F-16 fighter jets from the 86th Air Base in Borcea took off at 8:53 a.m. to monitor the situation, while the National Military Command Centre instructed the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations to send a RO-Alert message to residents in Tulcea County at 8:47 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe target briefly entered Romanian airspace before crossing the border and heading toward Ukraine. Shortly afterwards, explosions were reported on Ukrainian territory,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n\n
Monday\u2019s incident marks the fourth consecutive day in which a drone has entered Romanian airspace. The previous three drones, which crossed into the country on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, were intercepted and shot down by Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter jets.<\/p>\n
Following Friday’s incident, president Nicu\u0219or Dan said the drone destroyed that day was a Russian Shahed model and announced that Romania would lodge a diplomatic protest with Russia.<\/p>\n
Separately, interim foreign minister Oana \u021aoiu told Digi24<\/a> that Romania has the option of invoking Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, under which any NATO member can request consultations whenever it considers its security or territorial integrity to be under threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n