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The Minister of Defence, Vasile Dincu, stated that the landing of an aircraft of the Ukrainian Forces on the Romanian territory, in Bacau, "was actually an accident" and there are discussions regarding the pilot's return to the neighboring country.
"This morning, our air force intercepted a Ukrainian plane that landed at Bacau airport. It was an accident, because it was seen from the start that the plane was lost. It was coming to Romania, it was intercepted. We found that this young pilot had got lost, but in fact he had nowhere to land back, because the airport from which he left was destroyed and arrived safely in Romania", Dincu stated on TV station Digi 24.
He added that the pilot of the aircraft "cooperated, was also debriefed by the Ukrainian authorities".
"There are discussions at the moment and we are evaluating from a legislative point of view so that we can agree to return the pilot to Ukraine. These are issues related to international law, but we are solving this because it was actually an accident. We made an exchange of messages with Minister Reznikov. He apologized for this incident and asked us to support him in returning home," said the Romanian defence minister.
On Thursday morning, two F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft of the Romanian Air Force in the NATO Air Command combat service took off at around 6.15 am to clarify an air situation regarding an unauthorized flight in the northern part of Romania, which was approaching the national airspace, Agerpres.ro informs.
"The two Romanian military aircraft strictly applied the national procedures and international rules applicable in such situations, proceeding to the interception and visual identification of the aircraft that had entered the Romanian airspace. The respective aircraft, a Sukhoi 27 belonging to the Ukrainian Air Force, was escorted to land immediately on 95 Airbase in Bacau, an operation ended at 7.05. After landing, the Ukrainian military pilot made himself available to the Romanian authorities, and the legal measures required in these situations will be taken," said the Ministry of National Defence.
