Nato has said it stands in “strong solidarity” with Romania, which has reported that parts of a probable Russian drone fell on its territory during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely, and we remain in close contact with our ally Romania,” Nato said in a statement on Wednesday night.
Romania, a Nato member, had initially repeatedly rejected claims by Ukraine that Iranian-made Russian drones fell and detonated on Romanian territory during a strike on the Ukrainian port of Izmail on Sunday night.
But on Wednesday Romania’s defence ministry said in a press release: “Investigators discovered elements resembling drone debris in the evening of 5 September.”
Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, then called for an urgent investigation into the apparent drone debris discovered on its soil after the Russian attacks.
The discovery was made in the vicinity of Plauru, a village on the other side of the Danube from the Ukrainian port of Izmail. The ministry said technical analysis would now be carried out to “determine origin and characteristics” of the debris.
After stating earlier this week that no drone or debris had been recovered on Romanian soil, Iohannis appeared to row back on Wednesday, calling for an “urgent and professional” investigation.
“If it is confirmed that these elements belonged to a Russian drone, such a situation would be completely inadmissible and a serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania, a Nato ally,” he said at the start of the Three Seas Initiative summit hosted by Bucharest. “We are on alert and in constant contact with our Nato allies.”
As a Nato member, Romania enjoys the protection of article 5 of the alliance’s constitution, under which an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all of them. However article 5 has only ever been invoked once, following the massive 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States.
Iohannis said Romania was on alert and in contact with Nato allies. “Within Nato, we are very well defended … Romania benefits from extremely strong security guarantees, the strongest in our entire history.”
Romania’s defence minister, Angel Tilvar, said there was no direct threat and told Agerpres, Romania’s national news agency, that it was possible the drone did not explode on impact but rather simply fell, or pieces landed on Romanian territory. “[That] 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,” Agerpres quoted him as saying.
Catalin Drula, the leader of the centre-right opposition USR party, accused the government of an attempted cover-up. “They lied for two days. Ukraine told the truth. Their instinct is to sweep it under the rug,” he wrote on Facebook.
Bucharest has strongly condemned the Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Danube infrastructure.
Early on Wednesday, one person was killed in new Russian drone attacks on a port district in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, close to Romania’s border. Residents on the Romanian bank of the Danube posted videos and pictures of the attack on social networks.
“People are panicking a bit. There are only 370 metres between our borders,” said Timur Cius, the mayor of the Romanian border village of Chilia Veche. “We heard everything, of course. By now we are already used to the sound of sirens and whatnot. But we feel safe here because we are in a Nato country.”
After the collapse in July of the UN-brokered deal allowing grain shipments from Black Sea ports, Moscow has ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, home to ports and infrastructure vital for agriculture exports.
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse in Bucharest
