Drone crash in Zagreb: Croatia feels threatened

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Around 11 p.m. on Thursday evening, a six-ton ​​drone crashed in the Croatian capital Zagreb

Photo: IMAGO/Igor Kralj/PIXSELL / IMAGO/Pixsell

After the crash of a military drone apparently launched from Ukrainian territory in Zagreb, Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic called for better cooperation within NATO.

The reconnaissance drone flew through the airspace of two NATO member states before it crashed near a residential area in Zagreb, Plenkovic complained on Saturday.

This is "unacceptable".

He also criticized the military alliance's response to the incident as inadequate.

He had sent letters to his EU colleagues and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the incident, said Plenkociv when visiting the crash site in Zagreb.

"We can no longer tolerate such a situation." The Tupolev Tu-141 drone was a "very clear threat" that "must be responded to."

Crashed 200 meters next to residential area

The Soviet-made drone, 14 meters long and weighing more than six tons, fell into a park late Thursday evening about six kilometers from Zagreb city center and only 200 meters from a residential area.

About 40 cars parked nearby were damaged, but there were no injuries.

The drone has yet to be recovered from the crater it left in the crash.

The crash happened in the immediate vicinity of a residential area and a student housing complex where about 4,500 people live.

Croatia's chief of staff Robert Hranj spoke of a "rather serious" incident.

The incident feeds fears that the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine could spread to other countries.

Plenkovic said on Saturday that it was unclear "who owned" the drone.

It is also unclear whether the flight in the direction of NATO airspace "was an accident, a mistake or intentional".

Both Ukraine and Russia have denied launching the drone.

The Croatian Prime Minister criticized that the drone flew unmolested through the airspaces of Romania and Hungary before entering Croatian airspace.

Croatia, Romania and Hungary are all NATO members.

According to the Croatian authorities, the drone was in Hungarian airspace for around 40 minutes without Croatia being alerted.

Croatian security experts had already denounced a NATO failure on Friday. President Zoran Milanović called for an investigation into why the drone "was able to fly over NATO territory for almost an hour without anyone noticing".

But this is "not just a matter for Hungary, it's a matter for the joint NATO command."

According to the Croatian chief of staff Hranj, an "intensive investigation" into the background of the incident is underway.

The Croatian military is also in "close contact with NATO commanders".

Ukrainian border 550 kilometers away

A NATO official told the AFP news agency on Friday that NATO's integrated air defense "tracked the trajectory of an object that eventually crashed in Zagreb."

It is at least 550 kilometers as the crow flies from the Croatian capital to the Ukrainian border.

Tupolev Tu-141 drones were used by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces own this model.

tgk/afp