Pieces of a Russian drone fell in Romania, DefMin confirms

The Minister of Defense, Angel Tîlvăr, admitted on Wednesday that pieces of a Russian drone were found on Romanian territory, Antena3.ro informs.

“We covered a very large area, including the area about which there were discussions in the public space and I confirm that pieces were found that could be a drone”, the Minister of Defense said on Wednesday, for Antena 3 CNN.

Angel Tîlvăr is on Wednesday at Ceatalchioi, in the area where the pieces of the drone were discovered.

Constantin Spînu, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense, told Digi24 that Minister Angel Tîlvăr is in Ceatalchioi and that the MApN investigation teams investigating the area reported during the evening “a series of fragments that can be assimilated to a drone”, these to be investigated. He added that additional measures are being taken to secure the airspace.

The minister is accompanied by the Chief of the Defense Staff, Daniel Petrescu, and the Chief of the Air Force Staff, Viorel Pană, together with the Prefect of Tulcea.

“The MApN investigative teams that have been investigating the area for several days signaled during the evening a series of fragments that can be assimilated to drone elements. From the moment of identification, the investigative teams collected evidence and the laboratory investigation began. We will establish precisely what is the provenance, the date when they arrived close to the Romanian bank of the Danube. The investigation has only just begun,” declared Spînu, who said that a connection could be made with the attacks of three nights ago or with older attacks, but that that will only be determined through investigation. “Such a situation cannot be under wraps“, emphasized Spînu.

He added that the only certainty is that they are not fragments of the drones that attacked last evening. “The investigation carried out by MApN specialists will clarify the situation and we will make public the conclusions. All the procedural steps required by the situation have been taken and will be taken. Concrete measures have been established to strengthen the technical capacity, to monitor the situation in the vicinity port infrastructure of Ukraine, we have taken additional measures to secure the airspace”, declared Spînu.

Analysts from GeoConfirmed, which deals with the geolocation of images related to the war in Ukraine, said on Tuesday evening that a Russian drone fell on the territory of our country on Monday, confirming Ukraine’s information, while Romanian officials vehemently denied it.

After denying a day ago that drones had fallen on Romanian territory, President Klaus Iohannis stated today that he requested “an urgent and professional investigation”. The head of state added that “if it is confirmed that these elements come from a Russian drone, such a situation would be completely inadmissible.”

“Before addressing the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) Summit, I want to refer to the last-minute information regarding the identification, by the MApN, on the territory of Romania, in the proximity of the border with Ukraine, of some components that could be of a drone”, said Iohannis.

The President explained that he was informed that “he requested the urgent and professional investigation of the origin of these components, as well as the moment and circumstances in which they arrived on the territory of Romania.”

“If it is confirmed that these elements come from a Russian drone, such a situation would be completely inadmissible and a serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania, a NATO allied state. As I mentioned before, these attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which are war crimes, take place at a very short distance from the Romanian border. However, we are alert and in permanent contact with the other NATO allies. I repeat: within NATO we are very well defended, and Romania benefits from extremely strong security guarantees, the strongest in our entire history,” Ioahnnis said.

All Romanian authorities, from the Ministry of Defense to President Klaus Iohannis, strongly denied on Tuesday that any drone sent by the Russians against Ukrainian ports on the Danube would have fallen on Romanian territory.

Russia launched new drone attacks on Ukraine overnight. The Izmail district in the Odessa region was targeted by the new strikes. Several explosions were seen from the Romanian bank of the Danube.

Ziarul de Tulcea published images captured by the residents of Chilia Veche, the Romanian town opposite the Ukrainian port of Chilia in Izmail district, Odessa region.

According to the governor, Oleg Kiper, one person died during the attack. The attacks during the night lasted for three hours.

A local from the village of Plauru, which is opposite Izmail, told HotNews that last night there were explosions in the Ukrainian town of Chilia. Several videos taken from Chilia Veche with the fire caused by last night’s attack appear on social networks. “It’s terrible,” says a man who captured the flames and thick black smoke rising from the port of Chilia, the target of the Russian attack.