Angel Tîlvăr: "The Russian drones that fell in the Delta, damaged in advance by the anti-aircraft defense of Ukraine"

The Russian drones that fell in August and September on Romanian territory, in the Danube Delta, were hit beforehand by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense, said Angel Tîlvăr, the Minister of National Defense, yesterday, in the Senate, on the Government Hour program.

"At this moment, the technical expertise regarding the fragments lifted from the two locations is completed, and the report has been submitted to the General Prosecutor's Office, for the instrumenting of the open file, according to the procedures", said the Minister of National Defense, who specified that the information in the file " lead to the conclusion that the drones were hit by the anti-aircraft defense of Ukraine in attacks on the port of Izmail and entered into an uncontrollable evolution in the vicinity of the target, which determined the accidental entry into the national airspace and their fall in proximity, on the territory of Romania" .

Angel Tîlvăr also stated: "We did not notice any intentions in any of these situations, Romania's territory was not targeted, the impact being of an accidental nature" and mentioned that the drones could not be observed, for objective reasons, by the surveillance systems and early warning, among these reasons being the low altitude at which the aircraft were flying, their uncontrolled movement and the shielding generated by the terrain and port infrastructure of Ukraine.

The Minister of National Defense recalled that the impact of the drones was without explosion, the drones not having active combat equipment. He also said that there was no material damage or casualties in these cases.

The explanations offered by the Minister of Defense did not satisfy USR senators who requested his presence at the Government Hour program.

USR Senator Narcis Mircescu told Minister Angel Tîlvăr: "Unfortunately, you have not managed to calm me down until now. We always say that we are a safe NATO country, out of any danger, yet we have drones that swerve over Romanians' houses and that deviate from the trajectory. (...) Russian drones are a danger at present, they are on the border of Romania and we were curious how we prepared, what you will do and what is the plan for the next period. You said that there were no victims and we are glad that this is the case and we hope that it will remain so, but at the moment the drones were mainly in uninhabited areas, except for one drone that fell between Galati and Brăila. Can you guarantee the Romanian citizens that the current situation will be maintained and that we will not have bigger surprises? Because, unfortunately, the war looks like it's going to last longer."

In order to prevent similar events, Angel Tîlvăr showed that MApN recently supplemented the aerial surveillance systems in the Danube Delta, near the Ukrainian ports attacked by Russian forces.

Mr. Tîlvăr told the senators: "The forces and means intended for the execution of combat services in the Romanian Army have been supplemented, to increase the capacity of surveillance, observation and intervention with specialized forces and means in land, air, maritime, cyber space, respectively in the electromagnetic and information field in these areas located in the vicinity of the Ukrainian ports on the Danube. Without being able to go into too many details, I can tell you that the equipment for aerial and electronic surveillance in the fluvial district related to the Chilia arm and Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe districts was supplemented with specific sensors and cooperation with the Coast Guard was strengthened. (...) Measures are being prepared to secure the sea communication routes, for the discovery and neutralization of sea mines (...) drifting in the Black Sea basin, as part of the joint effort of the NATO states with riparian status and the States United. We increased traffic surveillance in the area of marine drilling platforms and in the Sulina-Sfântu Gheorghe district, naval research for the discovery and neutralization of drifting sea mines"

The Minister of National Defense reiterated the fact that security in the Black Sea is one of the themes of the CSAT meeting that will take place today at the Cotroceni Palace: "In the relationship with our allies, who have deployed important forces in our country, we are considering the review and adaptation of security measures ensuring the support of the host nation, according to the provisions of allied plans and partner requests, in accordance with the level of allied presence on the national territory, as well as the coordination and monitoring of road, air and rail transport belonging to the armies of allied and partner states. As you know, a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) is planned tomorrow in which other measures will be discussed," said Angel Tîlvăr.

We remind you that the group of USR senators requested, at the beginning of September, to call the Minister of Defense, Angel Tîlvăr, to the Government Time program on September 20 or 27, to give explanations regarding the crash of Russian drones on Romanian territory and the preparation of our country in the context of the border war.