Romania said on Wednesday that debris from what could be a Russian drone had landed on its territory across the Danube River from Ukraine and said that if the wreckage turned out to be Russian, it would be “a serious violation” of a NATO member’s sovereignty.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian grain ports in the Danube delta, including Izmail, which lies less than 200 yards from Romanian territory and was blasted again by Russian drones on Tuesday.
If confirmed, the presence of Russian drone wreckage inside Romania “would be completely unacceptable and a serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania, a NATO allied state,” the country’s president, Klaus Iohannis, said on his Facebook page.
As a member of NATO, Romania is covered by the U.S.-led alliance’s commitment to collective security, which obliges all members to come to the defense of any state that requests assistance in the event of an attack.
But Romania has avoided any hint that it might invoke Article 5, the cornerstone of the joint defense pact, over the debris found on Tuesday.
Persons:
Klaus Iohannis
Organizations:
NATO
Locations:
Romania, Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Romanian, Plauru, U.S