Two F-16s of the Turkish Air Force were scrambled over the weekend in eastern Romania after Russian drones attacked nearby Odessa, the defense ministry said.
Romanian residents near the Ukrainian border were woken by air raid sirens between 1 am and 3 am on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement. The air-raid warning went out again from 5 am to 6.20 am.
F-16s of the Turkish Air Force took off from the Fetești 86 air base “to carry out search missions in the national airspace in this situation”.
The Romanian defense ministry said there were no violations of Romanian airspace during the air-raid warnings.
“The National Defense Ministry strongly condemns the attacks carried out by the Russian Federation on the facilities and … civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian Danube ports. These attacks are unjustified and seriously contradict the norms of international humanitarian law,” the statement said.
On 10 February, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia attacked Ukraine with 31 drones, of which 23 were shot down. Four people were injured and civilian infrastructure was damaged in three waves of attacks in in Odessa and Izmail, Odessa Oblast.
There have previously been air-raid warnings in Romania due to Russian drone attacks.
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