Romania has found possible drone debris on its territory, announced Wednesday Bucharest, which on Monday denied claims by Kiev that Russian explosive devices had fallen in this neighboring NATO member country. “Investigators discovered on the evening of September 5 (Tuesday) items resembling drone debris,” the Department of Defense said in a statement.
Technical expertise will now be carried out to determine “their origin” and “the conclusions will be published as soon as possible”, it is indicated. These fragments were located in the vicinity of Plauru, a Romanian village located just opposite the river port of Izmail, on the Danube which separates Romania from Ukraine. President Klaus Iohannis, who had firmly denied the presence of any debris on Romanian soil the day before, announced that he had informed, via his ambassador, “the Secretary General of NATO and the allies” of this new development.
“We continue to monitor the situation carefully,” he added, recalling that NATO had “strongly reinforced” its forces in the Black Sea region since the start of the war.
On Monday, Romanian authorities had “categorically” denied Ukraine’s allegations on Monday but had nevertheless continued their search in the area that had been identified by Kiev, where the pieces were unearthed. “It is not possible at this stage to make the link with the attacks that occurred overnight from Sunday to Monday or with previous attacks,” said Constantin Spinu, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, on the chain of Digi24 television.
In opposition, the centre-right USR party accused the government of “hiding the dust under the rug” and “lying for two days”. “Today’s situation is different from yesterday’s, that’s all. We communicated in good faith based on the evidence we have,” defended Klaus Iohannis.
Since the suspension in July of the agreement which allowed Ukraine to export its cereals via the Black Sea, Russia has increased its bombardments in the region of south-western Ukraine bordering Romania where there are infrastructures capitals for this trade. One person was killed by a new Russian drone attack near the Ukrainian port of Izmail, the local governor said on Wednesday.