Four-meter crater

Drone crashed near Ukraine in Romania

Symbolic image(Bild: Menno van der Haven 2023 stock.adobe)

According to the Ministry of Defense, NATO member Romania has found parts of a drone near its border with Ukraine. These were discovered on Thursday evening in an agricultural area not far from the Danube in the east of the country. The incident is being investigated. On Sunday, a Russian missile entered the airspace of Poland, which is also a member of the NATO alliance.

According to the Romanian ministry, "fragments that could have come from a missile (drone)" were identified near the city of Braila. Braila is located 30 kilometers as the crow flies from the Ukrainian Danube port of Reni, which is repeatedly the target of Russian attacks. Russian drones have crashed on Romanian soil in this region several times over the past year. The last known incident was on December 14, 2023, when Romania's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador. NATO did not assume that Russia intended to attack the alliance.

According to Romanian media, the suspected drone crashed around ten kilometers southeast of Braila on a spit of land between two arms of the Danube (Great Braila Island) near a farmhouse, which is used almost exclusively as farmland. An explosion crater with a diameter of four meters had formed there.

Polish fighter planes in action
After the renewed Russian missile attacks in Ukraine on Friday night, Polish fighter planes took off together with allied jets. "Polish and allied aircraft are operating in Polish airspace," the Polish army announced via Platform X. Warnings were issued about the noise of the jets, particularly in the south-eastern part of the country on the border with Ukraine.

Baerbock: Putin wants to drag NATO into the war
In the view of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Russian President Vladimir Putin is heading towards a military conflict with the Western military alliance NATO. "Putin's goal was and is to destroy Ukraine's existence as an independent, free country and to drag NATO into a war," the Green politician told the Funke Mediengruppe (Friday). However, the German government would never allow this to happen. Putin is not available for arguments and appeals for humanity. "And he certainly doesn't want to negotiate," Baerbock added.