Around 200 Romanian villagers who were evacuated after a Russian drone attack across the Danube river in neighboring Ukraine can begin their return home, authorities said Tuesday.
The evacuation of two villages – the first ever in Romania as a result of the war in Ukraine – came after the attack, which lasted overnight Sunday into Monday, set fire to a ship carrying liquefied petroleum gas.
Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports in the Danube region, triggering alerts in neighboring Romania.
“Following a risk analysis and information received from Ukrainian counterparts, a decision was made to lift the evacuation order for the village of Ceatalchioi,” emergency services announced in a statement Tuesday.
Ukrainian emergency services were still fighting the fire on the ship, they said, however, pumping water on it from another vessel brought to the port of Izmail.
That meant the evacuation order remains in place for the second Romanian village, Plauru, where the risk “remains high.” Fifteen inhabitants there had been ordered to leave their homes.
Prior to the evacuation, residents in the village received alerts on their mobile phones, warning them of possible objects falling to the ground after the attack.
According to Romania’s defense ministry, “no unauthorized incursions into national airspace were detected” after “Russian Federation forces attacked areas of Ukraine near the river border with Romania” overnight Sunday into Monday.
On Friday, the Romanian foreign ministry announced the summoning of the Russian ambassador after drone fragments had crashed on the NATO country’s soil during the night between November 10-11.
“He was presented with tangible, extensive and solid evidence of the violation of Romania’s airspace by an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to the Russian military forces,” it stated in a press release.
The Russian embassy in Bucharest called the summoning “a theatrical event” in a message posted on Telegram, refuting “any speculation about an alleged intentional violation of Romania’s territorial integrity and any threats to its security from Russia.”
By James Kisoo
