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A Russian kamikaze attack drone detonated on the territory ofNATO member state Romania, Ukraine said on Monday, while the Romanians denied the claim.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko cited the country's state border service as saying that an Iranian-made Shahed drone detonated on Romanian soil during a mass attack by Russia on the Danube River port of Izmail in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, overnight.
An attack on a NATO country would trigger Article 5 of the NATO charter on collective defense, which means that "an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies."
"This is further confirmation that Russian missile terror poses a huge threat not only to the security of Ukraine, but also to the security of neighboring countries, including NATO member states," said Nikolenko in a statement on Facebook.
"We urge partners to accelerate the provision of Ukraine with additional modern anti-missile and anti-air defense systems, as well as combat aviation, which will strengthen the protection of Ukraine's infrastructure and neighboring countries."
When contacted for comment, Romania's Defense Ministry referred Newsweek to a statement it issued on Monday.
The ministry "categorically denies the information from the public space regarding a so-called situation that occurred during the night of September 3 to 4, in which Russian drones allegedly fell on the national territory of Romania.
"At no time did the means of attack used by the Russian Federation generate direct military threats to Romania's national territory or territorial waters," it said.
The ministry added that Russian attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure in Ukraine are "unjustified and are in deep contradiction with the rules of international humanitarian law."
However, Colonel Andrii Demchenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda that border guards has recorded two detonations on Romanian soil.
"Through the designated communication channels, Ukrainian border guards informed their Romanian counterparts that they had recorded two detonations on the territory of Romania in certain areas during the Russian attack with UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)," Demchenko said.
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment via email.
Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, said on his Telegram channel that the drone attack on Ukraine's main grain exporting port damaged warehouses and industrial buildings and set several residential buildings on fire. No casualties were reported, he said.
"Russian terrorists attacked the south of Odesa region with attack drones for 3.5 hours. 17 drones were shot down by our air-defense forces," Kiper wrote.
In another attack on Sunday, strikes damaged infrastructure and injured at least two people in Odesa.
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Update 9/4/23, 6:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further details.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more