Event in Tulcea County, Chilia Veche area, Romania on Fri 13th March 2026

Radar systems of the Romanian Ministry of National Defence detected aerial targets on Friday, around 10:00 a.m., north of Tulcea County, in the Chilia Veche – Vâlcove area.

The army scrambled two F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft.

Air defense systems were placed on alert, and two F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from the 86th Air Base Borcea took off to investigate and monitor the airspace, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence said.

At 10:05 a.m., a public warning message was issued through the RO-ALERT for the affected area.

“Based on the information available so far, it is possible that drone debris may have also fallen on Romanian territory, in the Chilia Veche area. Specialized teams are ready to intervene on the ground to begin a search operation,” the Romanian Ministry of National Defence announced.

In the alert message, Tulcea residents are informed that there is a possibility of objects falling from the airspace, and the authorities recommend that they remain calm and take shelter in basements or civil protection shelters.

“In the absence of shelter, stay inside the house, away from windows and exterior walls. Estimated duration of the alert: 90 minutes,” the RO-ALERT message states.

“A few minutes ago, an RO-Alert message was sent for the northern area of ​​Tulcea County, informing the population about the possibility of objects falling from the airspace, in the context of reporting targets located in the vicinity of the Romanian border with Ukraine.

The message was issued through the national population warning system, based on information provided by the competent structures responsible for the surveillance and security of the airspace,” representatives of the Tulcea Emergency Situations Inspectorate also announced.On the night from Thursday to Friday, Russian forces attacked port infrastructure in the Odesa Oblast near the border with Romania using drones, according to regional governor Oleg Kiper.

He wrote on Telegram that a warehouse storing food products was damaged and a fire broke out, which was quickly extinguished by emergency crews. Kiper did not specify which port in the Odesa Oblast was targeted in the attack.