by Luiza Ilie and Jason Hovet
Sept 6 (Reuters) – Debris from what could be a Russian drone fell in Romania, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said on Wednesday, two days after Ukraine reported the detonation of Russian drones on the territory of the European country member of NATO.
Previously, Bucharest denied reports that drones had fallen on Romanian territory and said attacks carried out by Russia in neighboring Ukraine did not pose a direct threat to the country.
If it were confirmed that the debris discovered on Romanian territory belonged to a Russian drone, it would constitute a serious violation, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday.
“Such a situation would be unacceptable and would represent a serious violation of Romania’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
“We are on alert and in permanent contact with our NATO allies,” he added during a diplomatic event in Bucharest.
Speaking on the Antenna 3 CNN television channel, the Minister of Defense confirmed “that parts which could be elements of a drone have been found”, indicating that an analysis would be carried out to determine their origin.
Angel Tilvar added that the area had not been evacuated because there was no suggestion that these elements posed a threat.
“It doesn’t make us happy (…) but we can’t talk about an attack,” he said, according to comments reported by Agerpres. “We have to know how to distinguish between an act of aggression and an incident.”
Ukraine said on Monday that drones exploded in Romania during a nighttime air attack by Russia against a port on a bank of the Danube, an area against which the Russian army has increased attacks since July and abandoned by Moscow of an agreement with Kyiv on grain exports to the Black Sea. (Report Alan Charlish, Luiza Ilie and Jason Hovet; French version Jean Terzian, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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