NATO confirmed: drone that struck apartment building in Galaţi was Russian
NATO confirmed the Russian origin of the drone that struck a residential building in Romanian Galaţi and injured two civilians. Romania's president blames Moscow; Putin denies responsibility.
Russian drone struck residential building in Romania, NATO confirmed origin
The drone that crashed into a residential building in Galaţi in the early hours of Friday and injured two civilians was of Russian origin. According to Aktuality, this was confirmed by Martin O'Donnell, spokesman for the headquarters of NATO allied forces in Europe (SHAPE), citing the Reuters news agency.
Analysis of the wreckage was carried out by Romanian armed forces and subsequently consulted with NATO. O'Donnell stated that it was a Russian type of unmanned aircraft used in attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. The alliance also has no information suggesting that the incident represented an intentional attack on the territory of a member state.
The Romanian defence ministry specified that the recovered fragments matched Russian Geran-2 drones, which Moscow regularly deploys against Ukrainian targets in the Danube region.
During a visit to Galaţi, Romanian President Nicolae Ciucă stated that Ukrainian air defence had probably struck the drone over the city of Reni, thereby changing its trajectory. According to the President's account, experts estimate that the unmanned aircraft carried at least 30 kilogrammes of conventional explosives. He said Russia bears responsibility for the incident, and Romania will continue negotiations with its allies on strengthening anti-drone defence.
Following his return from Galaţi, Dan stated on social media that the Russian Federation had committed a serious act that endangered the lives of Romanian citizens. According to him, this is a consequence of the irresponsibility with which Russia employs combat tactics without regard for civilian lives.
"No matter how hard Russia tries to divide us, it will not succeed in dividing our society when it comes to integrity, democracy and freedom in Romania," the president said.
The incident in Galaţi is the first case in which an unmanned aircraft has struck a residential building on Romanian territory. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the country has recorded dozens of airspace violations during Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube.
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded at a press conference in the Kazakhstani city of Astana that determining the origin of the drone was "too early", and suggested that the incident could have been caused by a Ukrainian drone that deviated from its course.
Source: Aktuality