BUCHAREST
\nParts of what could be a Russian drone fell on Romanian territory, Romania\u2019s Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said on Wednesday, two days after Ukraine said Russian drones had detonated on the NATO member\u2019s land.
\nRomanian officials had earlier denied reports of drones falling on Romanian territory and said Russian attacks in neighboring Ukraine did not cause a direct threat.
\nOn Wednesday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said confirmation of the discovered parts belonging to a Russian drone would be a serious violation.
\n\u201cI confirm that pieces which might be the elements of a drone were found,\u201d Tilvar told Antenna 3 CNN broadcaster.
\nHe said the area had not been evacuated because there was nothing to suggest that the parts posed a threat and said the pieces would be analyzed to confirm their origin.
\nKyiv had said on Monday that drones detonated in Romania during an overnight Russian air strike on a Ukrainian port across the Danube River, where attacks have increased since July, when Moscow abandoned a deal that lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine\u2019s Black Sea ports.
\nSpeaking in Bucharest on Wednesday at the start of a summit of the presidents of Three Seas Initiative countries, Iohannis said the attacks were war crimes happening a \u201csmall distance\u201d from Romania\u2019s border.
\n\u201cIf it is confirmed that the components (found) belong to a Russian drone, such a situation would be inadmissible and a serious violation of Romania\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe are on alert and in constant contact with our NATO allies,\u201d he added.
\nTilvar reiterated there was no direct threat and told Agerpres it was possible the drone did not explode upon impact but rather it simply fell or pieces landed on Romanian territory.
\n\u201c(That) does not make us happy, (…) but I don\u2019t 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,\u201d Agerpres quoted him as saying.
\nA ministry spokesperson said search teams had been in the area for several days while the minister and other defense officials talked to residents.
\nMoscow has conducted long-range air strikes on targets in Ukraine since the start of the war last year, and Ukraine has reported suspected Russian weapons flying over or crashing into neighbors several times.
\nIn the most serious incident, two people were killed in Poland by a missile that fell near the border last November; Poland and NATO allies later said it was a misfired Ukrainian air defense missile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUCHAREST Parts of what could be a Russian drone fell on Romanian territory, Romania\u2019s Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said on Wednesday, two days after Ukraine said Russian drones had detonated on the NATO member\u2019s land. Romanian officials had earlier denied reports of drones falling on Romanian territory and said Russian attacks in neighboring Ukraine did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-354300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n