Press release

The Romanian Air Forces’ air surveillance system detected on Friday, February 10th, an aerial target launched by a Russian Federation’s ship, navigating in the Black Sea, nearby the Crimean Peninsula. The target is most likely a cruise missile, which flew over the air space of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and reentered the Ukrainian air space without ever infringing Romania’s air space.

The closest point of the aerial target’s trajectory from the Romanian air space was recorded by the radar systems to be at almost 35 kilometers North-East from the border.

The Romanian authorities have applied all standard procedures since the moment the target was detected until the complete clarification of this situation. Furthermore, at 10.38 a.m., two Romanian Air Forces’ MiG-21 LanceR Aircraft of the NATO-led Air Policing Service, which were executing a flight exercise at that moment, were redirected to the Northern area of Romania in order to increase the reaction options.

After approximately two minutes, the situation was clarified and the two aircraft resumed their initial mission.

The Romanian Air Forces are permanently monitoring, in cooperation with the Allied forces, the national air space and the immediate surrounding area.

The Press Office