Romanian defence minister comments on increasingly frequent drone incidents in the country

Romania's acting Defence Minister Radu Miruță has said that the increasingly frequent drone incidents are a direct consequence of intensified Russian strikes on Ukrainian ports on the Danube.

Source: Digi24, a Romanian media outlet

Details: Miruță said that incidents involving drones and their debris on Romanian territory were directly proportional to the growing intensity of Russian attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure.

Miruță said that attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube had recently reached their highest level, adding that Defence Ministry radars had detected more than 100 drones near Romanian airspace but still over Ukraine, which had attacked Ukrainian ports on the Danube seven times in recent days.

According to Miruță, Ukrainian air defence forces destroyed most of the drones, but under such circumstances it is highly likely that their debris will continue to wash ashore on the Romanian banks of the Danube and the Black Sea for some time afterwards.

Miruță stressed that it was important not to fall for pro-Russian propaganda seeking to convince the public that there is no war, because the war is absolutely real and has consequences for the country – although the threat to Romania has not increased.

He also said that deliveries of weapons ordered through the European SAFE programme would give Romania a greater ability to detect drones flying at low altitudes, meaning it would no longer be necessary to scramble aircraft and use expensive fighter-launched missiles.

Meanwhile, Miruță explained that the advantage of a fighter jet is that it can catch up with a drone, whereas ground-based systems intended to destroy drones violating Romanian airspace would need to be deployed more densely across the country.

Miruță said the ordered equipment would begin arriving in the summer of 2027, while the entire arms delivery process would take up to two and a half years.

Background:

• Over the weekend, Romania informed its allies about another drone being shot down after it violated the country's airspace.
• Suspicious objects were also found again on Romania's Black Sea coast.

Subscribe on Patreon to back our journalism long-term.