Romania’s Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said Wednesday that parts of what could be a Russian drone fell within the NATO-member nation’s territory.
Despite earlier denials from Romanian officials, including President Iohannis Klaus, the Foreign Minister’s claim echoed those of Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, which asserted on Monday that Russian drones had detonated on Romania’s capital city, Bucharest.
“I confirm that pieces which might be the elements of a drone were found,” Tilvar told Antenna 3 CNN in Romania, adding that the area had not been evacuated because there were no indications that the materials posed a threat.
Tilvar further said the parts appeared to have not exploded on impact but merely fell within Romania’s borders after breaking off, and that they would be analyzed to confirm their origin.
The incident “does not make us happy…but I don’t think that we can talk about an attack and, as I said before, I think we need to know how to distinguish between an act of aggression and an incident,” he told the Romanian national news agency Agerpres.
Moscow has conducted long-range air strikes on targets in Ukraine since the start of its February 2022 invasion, and Ukraine has previously reported suspected Russian weaponry flying over or crashing into neighboring nations, including NATO members.
In November 2022 two people were killed in Poland after a Russian missile—later determined to have misfired—fell within that nation’s borders.
