Putin says it's too early to say whether drone that entered Romania was Russian

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (29) that it was too early to say whether the drone that crashed into a residential building in Romania was Russian and suggested it could have been a Ukrainian drone.

NATO accused Moscow on Friday of irresponsible behavior and pledged to "defend every inch of allied territory" after Romania reported that a Russian drone had crashed into a residential building in the alliance member country during an attack on neighboring Ukraine.

"Who in Romania says this is a Russian drone?" Putin asked reporters at a news conference in Astana, Kazakhstan. He said he had just found out about the case because he had been in meetings all day. "No one can confirm the origin of this or that drone until an analysis is carried out," he said.

Putin said Ukrainian drones had previously been spotted in Finland, Poland and the Baltic countries.

"The first reaction was exactly the same as now in Romania: 'The Russians are coming'," Putin said. "Then, after a short time, it turned out that it had nothing to do with Russian drones."

Putin also refuted statements by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who accused Russia of overstepping the line with the incident, saying that she herself had not examined the drone wreckage.

Putin suggested that Romania share information about what happened, and possibly fragments of the drone, so that Moscow could conduct its own investigation.

Source: CNN