Romania scrambles two F-16s after radar detects target heading for Ukraine

Radar contact and fighter jets scrambled

The Romanian Ministry of National Defence said its radar system detected an air target east of Sulina on the morning of Friday, 6 November, heading toward Vâlcove in Ukraine. Two F-16 fighters of the Romanian Air Force, assigned to air policing duty, took off from Air Base 86 at Borcea. The National Military Command Center notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, which set in motion alert measures for the north of Tulcea county. An RO-Alert message was transmitted at 08:56, warning the population of that area.

Overnight alerts and earlier warnings

In the night of 5 to 6 November, the ministry said Russian forces had continued attacking Ukrainian ports on the Danube, and an RO-Alert for northern and eastern Tulcea county was sent at 00:19. That alert was lifted about 20 minutes later, and no incursions into national airspace were reported. A similar alert had been issued on Thursday, 5 November, warning of a possible drone incursion in the north of the county. On Wednesday, 4 November, radar detected a target north of Vâlcove, on Ukrainian territory near the border, and two F-16s took off from Borcea, again without any reported incursion. Residents of Tulcea county receive RO-Alert messages frequently during the war in Ukraine.

Minority rights and Black Sea security at the Bucharest talks

On Thursday, 5 November, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sîbiga and his Romanian counterpart Dan Neculăescu held a joint press conference in Bucharest with Franco Dal Mas, secretary general of the Central European Initiative. Sîbiga said Ukraine was committed to the highest standards for protecting national minorities, including the Romanian one, and called restrictions on minority rights, especially pupils' rights, unacceptable. He said members of the Romanian minority were fighting on the front line for Ukraine and that any such cases would be investigated. Neculăescu asked for the intergovernmental mixed commission on minority issues to resume as soon as possible, and for regular consultations with the Romanian community on decisions affecting its rights. On Black Sea security, he said attacks on commercial ships were becoming more frequent, including in waters under Romanian jurisdiction, and added:

“We need a just and lasting peace.”

Ukrainian offer and Romania's naval gap

Neculăescu said the annual ministerial meeting of the Central European Initiative would be held on Friday, 6 November, where Romania is to hand the rotating presidency to Ukraine. Kyiv also offered to share its anti-drone experience with Romania and to help defend Romania in the Black Sea. Neculăescu welcomed progress in the European Commission's enlargement package published on Wednesday, 4 November, and backed opening negotiating chapters for Ukraine and Moldova. On the defence side, security expert Iulian Fota, a former presidential adviser on national security, told PRO TV that Romania lacks the necessary capabilities and should invest in its navy:

“We need warships in the Black Sea.”

Fota said patrol vessels cannot fight, and he blamed PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu for cancelling the contract with Damen, the Dutch company that held half of the Mangalia shipyard. In Fota's view, that cancellation left Romania without the modern corvettes that could have been operational by now.