NATO member Romania said on Tuesday it had started building bomb shelters in the southeastern border region with Ukraine, where drone debris was discovered last week.
• Also read: Romania discovers new drone debris near its border with Ukraine
The Eastern European country has decided to strengthen security measures after repeated Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports and infrastructure on the Danube.
The Romanian army has started building two concrete bunkers to “protect the population” in the town of Plauru opposite the Ukrainian port of Ismail, the Defense Ministry wrote in a press release. They will be 9.6 m long, 2 m wide and 1.5 m high internally.
Photo AFP
According to the same source, a detachment of about 50 soldiers was deployed to cope with this task. “As soon as they are ready, they will be handed over to the local authorities.”
Photo AFP
There, soldiers found drone fragments “similar to those used by the Russian army” on Saturday.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis protested to Moscow and strongly condemned “a violation of airspace that poses a threat to Romanian citizens living in this region.”
He also spoke to the Secretary General of NATO. “Nothing indicates that there was an intention to attack NATO, but the attacks are destabilizing,” reacted Jens Stoltenberg on the X network (formerly Twitter).
From now on, residents of the region will be warned by an alarm on their phones “in case of danger of falling elements related to the conflict”.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, NATO has been working to prevent the war from spreading to its member countries.
According to Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, any attack against one of the member countries must result in a collective response from the organization, which carries the risk of being drawn into a war against nuclear-armed Russia.