Russian drone found after last night's incursion in Romania
A Russian drone carrying a warhead has been discovered in Romania near the borders with Ukraine and Moldova after it entered the country on the night of 24-25 November.
Source: Romanian Defence Minister Ionuț Moșteanu, as quoted by Romanian TV news channel Digi24 and reported by European Pravda
Details: The drone was found in Vaslui County, which borders Moldova's western frontier and lies a considerable distance from Ukraine.
Moșteanu learnt of the incident while at the Mihail Kogălniceanu air base, where he had arrived to mark Thanksgiving with US troops.
Quote from Moșteanu: "This was meant to be a day of celebration, but now is not the time. We have another intrusion by a Russian drone, a new challenge from Russia for Romania. Romanian troops and German Eurofighters tried to shoot it down."
Details: The minister added that he had just been informed of the discovery and that early reports indicate the device without a warhead was located somewhere in Vaslui County. Moșteanu is urgently returning to Bucharest to coordinate further action.
He noted that Romanian and German pilots, scrambled overnight, were authorised to engage the drone but decided not to fire due to the high risk of collateral damage.
The minister added that Romania will soon receive new air-defence capabilities to better respond to such incidents.
Photos of the wreckage, resembling a Gerbera-type drone, appeared in the media. Vaslui prefect Eduard-Andrei Popica said he arrived at the scene with police after a local resident reported the discovery in the village of Puiești, around 50 km from the Romanian-Moldovan border and more than 100 km from Moldova's border with Ukraine.
Popica added that the local man said he heard a growing drone noise followed by a loud impact or explosion behind his house. When he went outside, he found the drone broken into pieces.
Background:
- On the morning of 25 November, Romania and Moldova confirmed violations of their airspace.
- Moldova later added that it detected six drones, one of which crashed onto the roof of a house in the village of Satul Cuhureștii. The Russian ambassador to Moldova has since been summoned to the Foreign Ministry.
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