Romania found more drone debris on its territory after Russian strike on southern Ukraine

Authorities claimed on Thursday to have discovered a crater from a suspected drone on its territory near the border with Ukraine. The incident has revived fears a possible war escalation onto a NATO member state.

The crater was discovered three kilometres (1.8 miles) west of Plauru village, located across the Danube River from the Ukrainian port of Izmail. The report followed a statement by the Romanian Defence Ministry on the detection of a series of drones heading towards Ukrainian river ports.

Heinous Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure had again serious consequences on Romania’s territory. We call on Russia to stop these war crimes.

Romanian authorities confirmed the presence of drone parts on the country’s territory, stating that the fragments found resemble details of Russian drones.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated on Thursday that the number of aircraft controlling Romania’s skies had been increased following the discovery of the drones. He stressed that the finding of the drone debris was a consequence of “unjustified attacks on Ukraine.”

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called the incident “an absolutely unacceptable violation of the sovereign airspace of Romania, a NATO ally, with real risks to the security of Romanian citizens in the area.”

Intermittent incidents in the past month have made border residents nervous about the war spreading to their country, and the village of Plauru has erected prefabricated concrete shelters for residents.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported intercepting 28 of 33 Shaheed drones launched by Russia overnight across the country. Oleh Kiper, the governor of the southern Odessa region, where Izmail is located, claimed Russian forces attacked the infrastructure of a Danube port in the region, injuring one person.

Russia has been attacking Ukrainian ports on the Danube in recent weeks in an attempt to deprive Kyiv of its ability to export grain to world markets.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported that the death toll from last week’s rocket attack in the village of Hroza in the northern Kharkiv region has risen to 59 after identifying more casualties.

The Hroza attack is one of the deadliest strikes by Russian forces on Ukraine since the outbreak of the wat last February. It took almost a week to identify those killed when a Russian Iskander missile struck a cafe.