Press Release

On Wednesday to Thursday night, 13/14 December, the Russian forces continued their drone attacks against the Ukrainian port infrastructure, in the proximity of the Ukrainian-Romanian border.

The Ministry of National Defence monitored the situation from the frontier area and activated the Air Policing procedures, at the same time notifying the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations with regard to the areas from Tulcea and Galați Counties that could have been affected by the risks associated with this situation. The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations issued a RO-Alert message at 22.45, and the state of alert ceased at around 02.00.

Romanian Air Force’s F-16 aircraft from the 86th Fetești Air Base and German Air Force’s Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from the 57th “Mihail Kogãlniceanu” Air Base conducted surveillance missions of national air space.
The Romanian Armed Force’s surveillance radar indicated, in this situation, a potential unauthorized infringement of the national air space, detecting a small height signal on one of the routes leading to Grindu area, Tulcea County.

Based on information from the field regarding a possible impact on the territory of Romania, mixed Ministry of National Defence/Ministry of Internal Affairs teams traveled to the area during the night and reported this morning that a 1.5 m deep crater was identified as a result of the uncontrolled crash of a drone used in the attack against the Ukrainian port infrastructure, in an uninhabited area about 4 km upstream of the town of Grindu. Measures were taken to secure the area and the competent structures were notified to collect evidence and conduct investigations, according to the procedures in force.

The Ministry of National Defence (MoND) strongly condemns the attacks conducted by the Russian Federation against certain civilian infrastructure facilities and elements in the Ukrainian ports at the Danube. These attacks are unjustified and seriously infringe the rules of international humanitarian law.
The MoND forces will continue to conduct airspace monitoring and research missions in the areas where risks may arise as a result of these situations.

Also, MoND remains in permanent contact with the allied structures, which are informed in real time about the situation generated by these attacks.

The Press Office