“The drone that crashed Thursday night in Galati is a Geran-2, of Russian origin,” Romania’s President Nicusor Dan said in a post on X Sunday.
“This is the unequivocal conclusion of the technical report finalized by experts of the Romanian state,” he added.
A 14-year-old boy and a 53-year-old woman were hospitalised on Friday after the drone hit a block of flats in Galati, close to the border with Ukraine.
That marked the first drone hit on a residential building outside Ukraine since Russia started its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his Romanian counterpart for his “clarity” after Bucharest’s announcement.
“Facts are the best cure to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s lies and they prove that Russia’s manipulations will not pass,” Zelensky said on social media, adding:
“Ukraine is ready to work closely together to counter common threats and strengthen the protection of life — not only for our country, but also for the friendly Romania and the rest of Europe.”
Russia’s embassy in Romania has accused Ukraine of staging a provocation with the incident, and President Vladimir Putin said Friday that “no one” could determine the aircraft’s origin with any authority until a thorough examination was carried out.
In his post Sunday, which carried four images said to show the device, Romania’s Dan said comprehensive technical analysis had been carried out and showed that Russia was “solely responsible”.
“The Cyrillic inscription ‘ГЕРАН-2’ was identified on the recovered fragments, and the analysed electronic components, navigation systems, control modules, engine, and structural elements show similarities — even identical features — to those of other Geran-2 drones previously recovered on Romanian territory,” he said.
“Physical and chemical analyses have confirmed the presence of the same types of materials and fuels repeatedly identified in devices of this series,” he added.
Dozens of drones have strayed into Romania since the start of the Ukraine war, but no residential buildings had previously been hit.
The drone entered Romania’s airspace during Russian strikes on Ukraine, the defence ministry in Bucharest said.