The Romanian Army and local authorities on the Ukrainian border are coordinating efforts amidst Russian attacks in the region.
The countries bordering Russia-ruled Ukraine are not safe from the war's impact. Polish experts have concluded that the missile that killed two people in a farm in southern Poland last November had been fired by the Ukrainians. The missile had a range from 75 to 90 km, the media reported, and at that time Russian troops were positioned in a place from where they could not have hit the Polish farm.
The missile hitting a NATO member in Poland has generated fears that the war in Ukraine might spiral into a wider conflict, through the activation of the mutual defence clause at the Allies' mutual defence clause, where an attack against one NATO member state is an attack against all.
Romania, which has an approx. 650-kilometre-long border with Ukraine has had constant discussions with NATO about developments on this border, ever since several drone pieces, most likely Russian, were found on Romanian territory, in the Danube Delta.
The most recent incident took place on the Ukrainian banks of the Danube, near Orlovka, in the early hours of Thursday, when drones fell near a Romanian ferry leaving for Isaccea. After this new episode, the army chief of staff organised a video call with local public authorities in the towns of Brăila, Constanţa, Galaţi and Tulcea, all of them along the Danube River, in the context of the Russian Federation's attacks on Ukrainian Danube ports.
The video call was intended to 'optimise inter-institutional collaboration', the defence minister said in a statement. The agenda included a presentation of the security situation, of the Army's public communication process, steps to prepare the defence of the local population, economy and territory, and the responsibilities assigned to the various institutions in the national defence system.
The Russian army frequently engages the Danube port of Izmail and Reni, in the south of Bessarabia, the eastern Romanian territory annexed by Hitler's Soviet Union after an ultimatum in 1940, and incorporated into Ukraine in 1991 as a successor state. In July, Russia pulled out of a deal allowing grain transit via the Black Sea, making them a major gateway for Ukrainian grain exports.
Reni is 13 km from the Romanian city of Galați, while Izmail is located on the Chilia distributional of the Delta, which serves as a border between Romania and Ukraine. Both ports are essential for commodity transport on the Danube.
The Romanian diplomacy firmly urged the Russians to 'cease the repeated attacks against Ukrainian population and civilian infrastructure, and to adhere to the rules of international law, including Romania's independence over the airspace above its territory, including its territorial sea.