The drone that crashed into a residential building in Romania during an attack on neighboring Ukraine was Russian, NATO spokesman Martin O‘Donnell said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
NATO will assess how to strengthen Romania's and NATO's defenses against drone threats, the alliance added.
Meanwhile, the US permanent representative to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, condemned the “reckless incursion“ in his op-ed in Ex and vowed that the United States “will defend every inch of NATO territory“.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was too early to say whether a drone that crashed into an apartment building in Romania was Russian after all and suggested it was actually a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle, Reuters reported.
NATO on Monday accused Moscow of irresponsible behavior and vowed to “protect every inch of allied territory“ after Romania said a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the Danube city of Galati during an attack on neighboring Ukraine.
Putin told reporters in Astana, Kazakhstan, that he had learned of the incident shortly before. He suggested that the debris from the aircraft be handed over to Russia so that Moscow could conduct its own independent investigation.
"Who in Romania is talking about the drone being Russian? Mrs. Von der Leyen has not been to Romania, has not examined the remains of this drone, no one can say what the origin of this or any other aircraft is until an expert examination is carried out," the Russian president stressed.
Putin pointed out that Ukrainian drones had recently been spotted in Finland, Poland and the Baltic republics.
"The first reaction was exactly the same as now in Romania: The Russians are coming," he said. "Then, after a short time, it turned out that this had nothing to do with Russian drones," the Russian president added.
Putin also said that Russia had all the necessary means to destroy anyone who tried to attack the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. He was asked to comment on a statement earlier this month by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budris that NATO should show Moscow that it was capable of breaching Kaliningrad's defenses.
Putin reiterated that Moscow considers any place that poses a threat to Russia a legitimate target, after being asked to comment on Russian intelligence allegations that Ukraine had sent drone pilots to Latvia.
The Russian president added that Russia nevertheless remained ready to continue talks on a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian conflict. He said his May 9 comments that the war was coming to an end were based on an analysis of Russian progress on the battlefield. But Putin refused to give a specific timeframe for ending the war and said Western claims that Russia was preparing for war with Europe were lies.
The Russian president also said Western media should be ashamed of the way they covered the Ukrainian drone attack on a college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk, in the Russian-controlled part of Luhansk region, which killed 21 people.