U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu on Thursday held a call to discuss Romania’s investigation into drone debris found in Romania close to its border with Ukraine.
Pieces of what could be a Russian drone fell on Romanian territory, Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said on Wednesday, two days after Ukraine said Russian drones had detonated on the NATO member’s land.
Spoke with Romanian Foreign Minister @Odobes1Luminita about the ongoing investigation of drone debris found on Romania’s territory and our unwavering support to Romania as a NATO Ally.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 7, 2023
Romanian officials had earlier denied reports of drones crashing on Romanian soil and said Russian attacks in neighboring Ukraine did not pose a direct threat.
NATO has a collective defense commitment called Article 5 under which the military alliance considers an attack on one ally to be an attack on all allies.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that the alliance did not have information indicating a deliberate attack by Russia. However, he stressed the risks Russian air strikes close to the alliance’s territory posed.
Blinken and Odobescu also discussed additional cooperation to preserve airspace security, including an upcoming rotation of additional U.S. F-16 fighter jets to bolster NATO’s air policing mission in Romania, the State Department said.
