The Romanian authorities communicated this Thursday that a drone crashed early in the morning north of the city of Tulcea, in the east of the country, after entering Romanian airspace near the border with Ukraine.
According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense in an official note, the military radar system of the Armed Forces located the device around 2:23 a.m. (local time) in an area close to the border line.
After the detection of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the allied response was activated and two F-18 fighters from the Spanish Air Force took off to carry out "a surveillance mission." The Romanian Air Force also deployed a reconnaissance helicopter to follow the trajectory of the drone, according to the statement.
The device finally crossed into Romanian territory around 3:21 a.m., about 13 kilometers from the city of Galati. Just three minutes later, it lost altitude and crashed to the ground about 4 kilometers from the town of Grindu, in Tulcea province, in an uninhabited area.
The impact caused a small fire, but there have been no casualties or material damage. The authorities have sent personnel to the site to cordon off the area and proceed with the collection of the drone's remains.
In recent months, Romania has suffered several incursions of drones from neighboring Ukraine. On August 16, two Spanish combat aircraft integrated into NATO intercepted one of these devices in the Galati region.
Accusations from Ukraine against Russia
On the other hand, Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of "once again violating Romanian airspace," as well as that of Moldova. "These are not isolated incidents," noted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibiga, who emphasized that "they are part of Russia's deliberate and systematic terrorist attacks."
"The aggressor state is increasingly testing NATO's and its partners' determination, violating the sovereignty of neighboring states and deliberately expanding the risks of its war far beyond Ukraine," he stated, while saying he is "coordinating" with his partners to "launch a stronger and more effective regional response to Russia's cynical attempts to expand the war it started" more than four years ago.
In this line, it has advanced that these issues will be addressed at the next Odesa Triangle Summit --a forum for trilateral cooperation between Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova-- with the aim of "strengthening regional security, protecting critical infrastructure, and ensuring that Russia's illegal and aggressive actions have consequences."
"Our collective response must be stronger than Russia's attempts to test our unity and determination. The security and stability of the entire region are at stake," he has maintained.
Romania shares about 614 kilometers of land border with Ukraine and has seen how, since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Russian drones have repeatedly violated its airspace.