Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declared that "NATO is de facto involved" in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict due to Western countries' support for Ukraine. TASS reports this. "NATO is at war with Russia. This is obvious and requires no further proof," Peskov said, according to TASS.
Meanwhile, Romania summoned the Russian ambassador to denounce the "unacceptable" flight of a Russian drone in its airspace the day before, just days after the spectacular intrusion of a similar aircraft into Polish skies, condemned by the European Union. Bucharest expressed to the head of the Russian diplomatic mission, Vladimir Lipayev, "its firm protest" against "this unacceptable and irresponsible act," the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement. It also "urgently called on the Russian side to take all necessary measures" to prevent such a "violation of Romania's sovereignty" from happening again.
On the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, 19 Russian drones carried out an incursion into Polish skies, the first of its kind since the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022. Since then, Poland has been on high alert, as have NATO states that maintain a military presence on its territory. "These recurring incidents contribute to the escalation and amplification of threats to regional security," the ministry told the ambassador, emphasizing that Romania, a member of NATO and the European Union, "remains in constant contact with its allies." The Romanian Ministry of Defense had previously described the incident as "a new challenge to regional security and stability."
Droni russi in Polonia: provocazione o errore?
On Saturday evening, Romania reported that a "Geran" drone entered its airspace during a Russian attack on infrastructure in neighboring Ukraine. Two Romanian F-16 fighter jets "detected a drone in national airspace" that flew over eastern Romania for approximately 50 minutes, departing from the village of Chilia Veche before taking off near the town of Pardina toward Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Defense. "The pilots received authorization to shoot down the target, but, after establishing direct contact, assessed the collateral risks and decided not to open fire." The F-16s received assistance from "two German Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft," which then carried out a surveillance mission, the ministry added.
According to the statement, the drone did not fly over populated areas and did not pose an imminent threat to the safety of the population. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, several drone fragments have crashed on Romanian soil.
Romanian Foreign Minister Toiu Oana announced that he would "raise the issue of Russia's actions at the UN General Assembly, urging strict compliance with international sanctions." "The Russian military is testing Romania," commented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "Of course, NATO has Patriot missiles, other systems, and powerful fighter jets, but in Ukraine we have much less expensive, more massive, and more systematic solutions against Russian drones," he emphasized.
His American counterpart, Donald Trump, said Saturday that he was ready to impose new sanctions against Russia, but only if European countries stopped buying Russian oil . "I don't want them buying oil. And the sanctions they're imposing aren't tough enough," he reiterated to reporters on Sunday. "I'm ready to impose sanctions, but they'll have to toughen them to match what I'm doing," he added.
The EU has banned most imports from Russia since 2022, but the Druzhba ("friendship" in Russian) pipeline has been temporarily exempted to give Central European states time to find new solutions. Hungary and Slovakia, both EU members, continue to receive Russian oil through this pipeline, which has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks.
(Unioneonline)