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DefMin Tilvar confirms find of equipment parts 'that could potentially be of a drone'
Defence Minister Angel Tilvar told AGERPRES on Wednesday that in Tulcea County, parts of a piece of equipment "that could potentially be a drone" were found that will be analysed for origin, capacity and type.
"I am with the chief of defence and the chief of the Air Force on a fact-finding visit that I planned given that Russia's unprovoked attacks against Ukraine have intensified, attacks targetting port and storage facilities that are attacks taking place in the proximity of Romania, at very short distances from Romanian towns. It was normal, I think, for me to come and assure the people of our support and also to try to somehow explain that Romania, at the moment, is not in any form of conflict, and that there are no signs of aggression against Romania. As it was normal for us to ask them what we can do for them in the situation they want, for example asking the locals of Plauru, all 25 of them - being precisely opposite the port of Izmail - if they want to be helped (...) because we can do it," said Tilvar.
He confirmed that parts of a piece of equipment that could potentially be a drone were identified on Romania's soil.
"After the penultimate attack by Russia, we announced that, from the data we had - and that is how things are from absolutely all the data we had obtained through the means at our disposal - there was no element that fell on territory of Romania, I mean no element of danger. As early as yesterday afternoon we had indications - because we continued the search, even after things were, from our point of view at that moment, clear - that there is a place where it is possible to identify parts of equipment that could potentially be a drone. Our teams went there, took the samples that are taken in such situations (...) and now these samples are being investigated, analysed at our laboratories because, as happened with the parts of the Bayraktar drone that was found in the Black Sea, it is normal to know exactly and be able to find out the origin, capacity, type and so on," added Tilvar.
The parts in question were found near the village of Plauru, 70-80 m from the Danube, in an area very difficult to access, with abundant vegetation, the minister explained, adding that a difference must be made between an act of aggression and an incident.
"There is a reasonable possibility that it didn't explode when it hit the ground, but simply fell or pieces of this equipment ended up on Romanian territory, something that doesn't make us happy, (...) but I don't think that we can talk about an attack and, as I said before, I think we need to know how to distinguish between an act of aggression and an incident. An incident that indeed is unfortunate, unpleasant and that arouses our concern and the desire to condemn even more firmly what Russia is doing unprovoked to a sovereign state," Tilvar told AGERPRES.
