A Russian drone did crash on the territory of Romania after all, the country’s defense minister admitted to CNN on Wednesday, September 6th. Until then officials—including President Klaus Iohannis—had firmly denied Kyiv’s claims for days following the incident that happened on Monday morning, September 4th.
“We have covered a very large area, including the area that has been publicly discussed, and I confirm that in this area pieces that may be from a drone were found,” Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar told reporters Wednesday afternoon, adding that the wreckage was to be transported elsewhere for further analysis.
President Iohannis, apparently informed about the find only on Wednesday, reacted immediately by saying that the origin of the wreckage is yet to be determined, but
If it is confirmed that these parts came from a Russian drone, such a situation would be completely unacceptable and a serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania, a NATO member state.
The awkward confirmation came just a day after President Iohannis publically repeated the defense ministry’s earlier statements denying Ukraine’s claims that one of the Shahed drones attacking the Danube port of Izmail went astray and detonated inside the NATO country.
“I checked absolutely everything, and I can reassure the population that there was nothing that reached Romania,” Iohannis said during a joint press conference with Luxembourgish PM Xavier Bettel, who met him to discuss security issues at the Cincu NATO base in Romania.
Responding to Kyiv’s early reports, the Romanian defense ministry stated that it was impossible for any drone or even fragment to land in Romania without their knowledge, as they are constantly monitoring all air strikes in the area “in real time.”
The defense ministry’s initial statement also added that Russia wasn’t even attacking the neighboring port of Izmail just across the Danube, but the port of Reni, some 60 kilometers further west.
This last point, at least, had been corrected by President Iohannis on Tuesday, who admitted that there were “verified attacks 800 meters from the [Romanian] border,” but continued to deny that any drone would have crossed it.
Meanwhile, Kyiv kept repeating that it was “pointless” to deny the incident because it had photographic evidence to back up the claims.
Answering questions from journalists, President Iohannis stated on Tuesday that there is a very clear protocol to follow in case similar events happen, decided collectively during the last NATO Summit in Vilnius. As Iohannis explained,
We know exactly who, when, and what to do if something falls on NATO ground. If one event happens, if the size of the event exceeds something that is very clearly stated in our procedures, everybody knows how and when to do it. I am convinced that you understand that this is not public information, but I can tell you for sure—yes, we have a scenario, we have a plan for every possible incident.
Whether the single drone crash, which now turned out to be true, “exceeds” that specific threshold remains to be seen.
