Romania's Defense Ministry said elements of what could be a drone were identified on the NATO member's territory following a Russian drone attack early on September 13 on Izmayil in southern Ukraine, just across the border.
A crew from a Romanian Air Force helicopter identified “fragments that could have come from a drone, dispersed over an area of several dozen meters,” the ministry said, noting investigators were sent to the site to conduct a preliminary search and to collect samples for examination.
If confirmed, it would be the third time fragments from a drone have been found on the territory of Romania in recent days.
The debris was found near the towns of Nufarul and Victoria, in Tulcea County -- an area of the Danube that forms a natural border between Romania and Ukraine. Earlier, Romania's Defense Ministry said emergency services had received calls about “possible cases of drone impact” in the area.
Overnight, Bucharest announced a pre-alert state in areas in Tulcea and Galati Counties as a result of the detection of “groups of drones heading towards the Ukrainian ports,” the Defense Ministry said.
Residents of Tulcea received alert messages asking them to find shelter as there was “a possibility of some objects falling from the air space,” RFE/RL’s Romanian Service reported.
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Early on September 13, the authorities in Ukraine's Odesa region said port infrastructure in Izmayil was damaged in a new Russian drone attack.
“Unfortunately, there were hits. Damage to port and other civilian infrastructure was reported,” Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, wrote on Telegram, adding that six people had been injured, three of them seriously.
The Ukrainian Air Force later said it intercepted 32 of 44 Shahed-type drones over Ukraine overnight, with most of them launched toward the southern parts of the Odesa region.
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In a statement issued earlier on September 13, the Romanian Defense Ministry “firmly” condemned the Russian attacks against Ukrainian port infrastructure, saying that they were “unjustified and severely breaking international humanitarian rules.”
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine's grain-export infrastructure amid talks about the resumption of the Black Sea grain deal, which would allow unhindered exports of grain from Ukrainian ports.
Russia quit the deal in July, a year after it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
Earlier in September, Romania reported two occasions when fragments of a drone similar to those used by the Russian military were found on Romanian soil after Russian attacks on Romanian port infrastructure.
Romanian authorities condemned the cases as an “unacceptable breach of Romania's airspace,” while NATO said it had no information that they were caused by a deliberate Russian attack.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been one other recorded incident of the war spilling into a NATO member state. That was when a missile struck a farm in Poland, killing two people. Polish officials later said it appeared to be unintentional and that it was likely launched by air defenses in neighboring Ukraine.
NATO has a collective-defense commitment under which the military alliance considers an attack on one ally to be an attack on all allies. Alliance members have provided Ukraine with military equipment and support but have warned against any moves that could provoke a slide into direct conflict with Russia.
With reporting by Reuters