Russian drone breached Romanian airspace near Chilia Veche (Tulcea County)

During the night of 16-17 April 2026, while Russian forces carried out a fresh wave of drone strikes on Ukrainian targets near the Danube border, Romania's National Military Command Center detected two aerial targets moving over the northern Chilia branch along the Romania-Ukraine frontier. According to Romania's Ministry of National Defence (MApN), one of those targets crossed into Romanian national airspace before radar contact was lost approximately 16 km southeast of the village of Chilia Veche, in Tulcea County, over an uninhabited area.

MApN said the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations issued a RO-ALERT warning to the population of northern Tulcea County at 00:43, and that the air-alert was lifted at 02:48. A ministry search team was prepared to deploy in the morning to examine the radar-loss zone for possible drone debris. As reported by European Pravda and public broadcaster Radio Romania, the ministry condemned Russia's actions as endangering regional security and constituting a serious violation of international law, and said it remained in constant coordination with allied and national structures.

MApN did not specify the type of drone involved, and no confirmed debris or impact site had been published as of early June 2026. The incident fits a recurring 2026 pattern of Russian drones straying across the Danube into Romanian airspace, including the later episode in which Russian drone debris damaged property in Galați on 24 April and the Geran-2 strike on a Galați residential block on 28 May.

The breach is attributed to a Russian-operated drone launched as part of the overnight assault on Ukraine, and the airspace violation itself is officially confirmed by MApN. Whether the incursion was deliberate or an unintended spillover from the strike package is not established; MApN condemned the violation but did not characterise it as an intentional strike on Romania. The event adds to a series of 2026 incursions along the Danube border and the wider Baltic and Romanian drone-spillover pattern. With no drone type confirmed and no debris site published, this entry may be updated as further official information becomes available.