Romania scrambled NATO fighter jets over the Black Sea on Saturday after its radar surveillance system detected an aerial target near Ukraine's Snake Island, prompting emergency alerts for thousands of residents in the Tulcea region.
Two Romanian F-16 combat jets took off from the 86th Air Base in Fetești, and the military command alerted authorities to sound an emergency for the public living in the Tulcea area. The RO-ALERT system transmitted an emergency message at 4.45am, followed by another at 5.39am for the northern part of Tulcea County.
Emergency lasts over an hour
Authorities said the emergency lasted until 5.52am, but no explanation has been given about the nature of the aerial threat seen on radar. The incident follows a similar warning on Friday evening after a threat was detected south east of Snake Island in Ukrainian airspace.
The RO-ALERT system targets mobile phone towers in specific areas of Romania, and any compatible mobile device connected to those towers receives the alert immediately.
Increased drone incursions
As Russia's war in Ukraine continues, drone incursions into Romania's airspace have increased significantly. Residents in eastern Tulcea County, near the Danube River, have grown accustomed to hearing blasts from Ukraine, and many fear that Vladimir Putin might want to extend the war and test NATO's resolve.
Robert Marian, 48, who lives in Isaccea, previously described the alerts: “There are alerts warning us that something is coming. It happened two weeks ago, maybe three. I was asleep at midnight … One was quieter, but another was really loud. I got scared and ran out of the house.”
Another Isaccea resident, Alina Mihail, said she feels sick when she hears the drone alerts and blasts across the border. “I have so many nights where I don’t sleep anymore,” she said. “I live in terror, me and my husband.”
Snake Island's symbolic resistance
Snake Island has become a symbol of Ukraine's resistance from the start of the war, when Ukrainian soldiers famously told a Russian warship: "Go f**k yourself." In an audio clip that spread worldwide in February 2022, a soldier from a Russian military ship was heard telling the Ukrainian guards to "lay down your arms immediately to avoid bloodshed and unjustified deaths" or face bombardment. The guards responded with the now-famous rallying cry.
Ukrainian defenders on the island spent more than 800 days in Russian captivity before being released in a prisoner exchange. Russian forces seized the island but later retreated, in a setback for Vladimir Putin that Moscow styled as a "gesture of goodwill."
