UAV event in Plauru area, Romania on Thu 25th July 2024

Romania's Defence Ministry has confirmed it has found debris from Russian drones near a town on the country's border with Ukraine.

Commander of Ukraine's Air Force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk, said it destroyed 25 Russian drones over night but three drones “were lost after crossing the state border with Romania”.

Fragments of a Russian drone were discovered near the town of Plauru, which is situated across the Danube River from Ukraine’s port town of Izmail.

The port was struck by Russian drones for the second night in a row.

More heinous attacks have been perpetrated by Russia against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Debris has been found on Romanian territory. We have informed and are coordinating with our Allies on this matter. Romania strongly condemns these irresponsible actions.” Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu wrote on X.

Romanian locals living in and near the town of Plauru said they felt the heavy impact of the drones hitting the port of Izmail.

"There were a lot of them and with a strong impact. The ones we had in August or earlier were heavy, but not like these. The ones on Tuesday night had a phenomenally high charge," said local resident, Costică Tănase.

"There was something like a light that went to and fro, as if it was following something. I think it had a spyglass or something," another resident, Florica, added.

Romania has said that military action near its border endangers national security and issued a reminder that targeting civilians is a war crime.

The Defence Ministry has said two Finnish F-18 fighter jets and the Air Police Service have been deployed to deal with the situation and are monitoring Romanian airspaces.

It added that searches for debris are ongoing and the locations of fallen drones are "outside residential areas and no infrastructure elements were damaged”.

Meanwhile, NATO officials have said they have no evidence to indicate this was an intentional Russian attack on the allied territory of Romania but said the actions were irresponsible and potentially dangerous.