Jakarta –
Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, said a Russian-made Iranian drone crashed and exploded in Romania. The drone was previously known to have carried out an attack on the port of Izmail in Ukraine.
“According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the Russian Shahed crashed and exploded on Romanian territory overnight,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on social media, as reported. AFPTuesday (5/9/2023).
By said the incident occurred during a major Russian offensive on the Danube river, opposite Romania. He also shared an image of what appeared to be a cloud of smoke near a body of water. However, AFP could not immediately verify the image.
A spokesman for the State Border Guard Service told AFP that Nikolenko’s statements were reliable. It also said two explosions were heard.
“We recorded two explosions on Romanian territory near the port of Izmail during the Russian attack last night,” Andriy Demchenko said.
Following its withdrawal from an agreement in July allowing Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, Moscow has shelled ports in southern Ukraine including Izmail.
Romania, meanwhile, vehemently denied that a Russian drone fell on its territory during the attack.
“The attack methods used by the Russian Federation never posed a direct military threat to Romania’s national territory or territorial waters,” the Romanian Ministry of Defense said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba later told the Interfax news agency that Kyiv was ready to share information about the attack with Bucharest. And insisted that the attack had affected Romanian territory.
“There is no point in denying this because there is photographic evidence of what fell there. And we are ready to share it,” Interfax quoted Kuleba as saying.
(azh/azh)
