Turkey shot down a drone that had lost control and was approaching its airspace.
Turkey on Monday shot down a drone that “lost control” and was approaching its airspace from the Black Sea, the country’s defense ministry said. TASR took over the report from the AFP agency.
The device was “detected and tracked as part of normal procedures” by the Turkish ministry and identified as “a drone that lost control”.
“To avoid any adverse consequences, we shot down (the drone) in a safe area outside the inhabited area,” the ministry confirmed in a statement, adding that it had dispatched F-16 fighter jets to the area.
Erdogan’s appeal
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned last weekend that this key region should not become an “area of confrontation” between Russia and Ukraine. Erdogan met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan on Friday and called for a ceasefire covering ports and the energy sector.
AFP reminds that Turkey has been trying to maintain relations with Moscow and Kyiv since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Criticism of attacks
The country also controls the Bosphorus Strait, which is a key route for transporting Ukrainian grain and Russian oil to the Mediterranean Sea. In recent weeks, there have been several attacks in the Black Sea, which have provoked sharp criticism from Ankara. In response, Turkey summoned the ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine, adds AFP.
