RO-Alert messages issued Tuesday afternoon in the counties of Iași, Vaslui, Neamț, Botoșani, and Suceava after the detection of a drone coming from the Republic of Moldova

Authorities issued RO-Alert messages on Tuesday afternoon for the population in the counties of Iași, Vaslui, Neamț, Botoșani and Suceava, as well as in northern Vaslui County, after an aerial target was detected near the town of Roman. A drone was reportedly coming from the Republic of Moldova, and the situation was monitored by military structures.

According to the Ministry of National Defence, the aircraft was detected at 16:47 by the radar surveillance system, approximately 18 kilometers north of Roman. The National Military Command Center notified the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, which ordered the population to be alerted.

In the message, people were warned about the possibility of objects falling from the airspace and were advised to take shelter in basements or civil protection shelters. In the absence of these, the authorities indicated that people should remain inside their homes, away from windows and exterior walls.

The prefect of Iași County, Costel Dolachi, stated that the drone was traveling from the Republic of Moldova toward southern Iași County or northern Vaslui County. Flights from Iași Airport were temporarily suspended.

To monitor the situation, two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air and Space Force, stationed at Mihail Kogălniceanu 57th Air Base as part of the Enhanced Air Policing mission, took off at 16:39. The authorities had not announced, as of that moment, where the aircraft might have fallen or whether there were any casualties.