Mykhailo Podoljak, the main advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, commented in an interview with the Romanian television Digi 24 on the series of cases in which Russian drones entered Romanian airspace and were shot down by the country's air force, expressing the opinion that "the drones sent by Putin did not end up in Romania by mistake", BTA reported.
The television reminds that drones used by Russian President Vladimir Putin's army to attack civilian targets in Ukraine have repeatedly entered Romanian airspace, and in one of the cases a drone exploded on an apartment building in the city of Galati and injured two people. Also, at the end of last week, for the first time, Romanian pilots managed to shoot down three drones that had violated the country's airspace.
Mihailo Podoliak believes that these incursions are not random and pursue certain goals that the Russian army has set for itself.
"We see that Russia periodically sends its instruments of death in a provocative manner to the territory of other countries, not only Ukraine. And therefore it is clear why this is being done. For Russia, this is a way to raise the stakes in the war, a way to provoke other countries, to put pressure on social groups in these countries, so that these countries, in turn, abandon their support for Ukraine. And thus weaken Ukraine's capacity to wage a counter-war", Podoliak points out.
In his words, "Russia's goals are much broader than attacking just one country - this is an attempt to dominate Europe, an attempt to impose, through the instrument of fear, the rules of conduct that Russia wants other countries in Europe to observe". "Without a doubt, such provocations or even provocative escalations with the use of multiple drones are possible", he added.
The adviser to the Ukrainian president expressed the opinion that these attacks are only the beginning of a wider campaign that Russia is waging not only in Romania, but also in other countries in Europe. He also warns that Russia will intensify its provocations and that Romania may become the object of an invasion by entire swarms of drones.
"Group attacks and more active provocations using the same drones on the territory of other countries are certainly possible. What should be done in this situation? What Bucharest is showing, in my opinion, what Romania is showing now is to take a firm position in defense of its own sovereign airspace. It is obvious that the security of its own citizens is above all, and therefore any unidentified aircraft that appears in this space must be destroyed," Podolyak emphasized.
The Ukrainian official called on the Romanian authorities to react with the same firmness to possible future provocations by the Russian Federation.
"Romania is showing that it has an effective mechanism. Moreover, after shooting down such a drone for the first time, it became clear that this was necessary, possible and absolutely mandatory to do. Other options than destroying the drones or missiles, as we see in Poland, other options to stop the growing escalation do not exist - only the firm and mandatory defense of one's own airspace", stressed Mihail Podoliak.
On July 24, 25 and 26, Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter pilots shot down three drones that entered the country's airspace, and the Russian ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was shown fragments of a drone with inscriptions in Russian. Another employee of the Russian Federation's mission in Bucharest has been declared persona non grata in Romania.
At the same time, Moscow said that Romania's claims that Russian drones violated its airspace were "unfounded" and promised to respond to the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from Bucharest.
"We reject these latest unfounded claims. The staged incidents and their propaganda coverage demonstrate the Romanian state leadership's attempt to cover up the disastrous results of its irresponsible position in support of the Kiev regime," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier this week.