British Eurofighters scramble as Russian drone strikes near Romanian border trigger RO-Alert in Tulcea

Overnight attack on the Danube

Russian forces carried out a new series of drone strikes on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, near the river border with Romania in Tulcea county, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) said. Romanian radar systems detected a group of signals approximately 22 kilometres north-east of Vâlcove, close to the frontier zone.

RO-Alert issued for Tulcea north

At 02:16 local time, the National Military Command Centre notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, and a RO-Alert message was sent to the population of northern Tulcea county. Residents were warned about possible risks from aerial activity near the border.

Air policing mission

Two British Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft, stationed at the 86 Borcea Air Base as part of the enhanced Air Policing mission over Romania, took off at 02:19 to monitor the situation. The planes tracked the evolving security picture throughout the night.

No unauthorised incursions into national airspace were reported and the air alert ceased at 03:37.

Recurrent border alerts

The incident is the latest in a pattern of repeated Russian attacks on Ukrainian Danube infrastructure close to Romanian territory. In recent months, authorities have activated warning systems and scrambled fighter jets on multiple occasions, while maintaining real-time liaison with allied structures.