Drone Enters Romanian Airspace and Crashes in Tulcea County, Fighter Jets Scrambled

A drone entered Romanian airspace and crashed in an uninhabited area of Tulcea County overnight on August 20, prompting Romania to deploy military aircraft and issue a public alert, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence reported.

Romanian military radar systems detected a group of aerial targets near the Ukrainian border, north of Tulcea County, at approximately 2:23 a.m., according to the ministry.

In response, two F-18 fighter jets operated by the Spanish Air and Space Force were scrambled to monitor the situation. An IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter of the Romanian Air Force was also deployed on an aerial reconnaissance mission.

Romania’s National Military Command Centre subsequently notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, triggering public warning procedures in the potentially affected area. An alert message was issued to residents at 3:20 a.m.

The drone subsequently crossed into Romanian airspace around 13 kilometers east of Galați. At approximately 3:24 a.m., it came down in an uninhabited area four kilometers northeast of Grindu in Tulcea County, where it caught fire upon impact.

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Romanian authorities dispatched a military team to the crash site.

The airspace violation came as Russia carried out a large-scale combined missile and drone attack against Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight, killing at least 13 people and damaging multiple civilian sites, including a children’s hospital, food warehouses, and Red Cross facilities.

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched a total of 214 aerial threats during the overnight attack, of which Ukrainian air defenses intercepted or suppressed 186.

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