Delta and Drones

Drone fragments, most likely Russian, keep falling in the south east of Romania

Bogdan Matei, 14.09.2023, 01:50

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest has informed and is consulting with NATO allies on the developments on the border between Romania and Ukraine, after the discovery of new fragments of a drone, most likely Russian, on Romanian territory. It is the third such incident in recent days, and the Charge Daffaires of the Embassy of the Russian Federation was summoned to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Romanian diplomacy has once again firmly demanded „the cessation of repeated attacks against the Ukrainian population and civil infrastructure and the irresponsible escalation by the Russian Federation of the security situation, including at the border between Romania and Ukraine”.

At the same time, Bucharest insists on „respecting the norms of international law, including the inviolability of Romanias airspace”. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense has specified that „there are no elements to indicate that it was an intentional attack on Romania”, and there were no unauthorized flights or violations of the countrys airspace. The official announcements do not diminish, however, the anguish of the people living near the border. Locals from the Danube Delta (Tulcea county, southeast) have already received RO-ALERT messages, in which they are warned about the possibility of objects falling from the airspace, amid Russian attacks on Ukraine.

The message was sent according to a decision of the National Committee for Emergency Situations. People are advised to keep calm and protect themselves in basements or civil protection shelters. In parallel, a detachment of sappers have installed in a village two shelters made of prefabricated concrete elements, which they handed over to the local authorities. Everyone seems to expect such incidents to happen again. The Russians frequently target the river ports of Ismail and Reni, in southern Bessarabia, the eastern Romanian territory annexed by the Stalinist Soviet Union in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine in 1991, as a successor state. These ports are an important outlet for Ukrainian exports after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal in July.

Essential for the transport of goods on the Danube, Reni is about 13 kilometers in a straight line from the Romanian city of Galati, and Izmail is on the Chilia arm of the Delta, which has become the border between Romania and Ukraine. The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, also said, last week, that there was no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia. He recalled that similar incidents had taken place in Poland. But the events in Romania, warns Stoltenberg, „demonstrate the risk of an accident” caused by the conflict in Ukraine. The opinion is also shared by the military analysts in Bucharest, who are stressing that the Russian army is not famous for rigor or scruples, especially in times of war. (MI)