Europe 1 with AFP 8:04 p.m., March 13, 2022

The Croatian Defense Minister explained on Sunday that the Soviet-designed military drone which crashed Thursday in Zagreb was carrying an aerial bomb, deploring "shortcomings" in the reaction of certain allies within NATO.

The Soviet-designed military drone that crashed in Zagreb on Thursday was carrying an aerial bomb, Croatia's Defense Minister said on Sunday, lamenting "shortcomings" in the response of some NATO allies.

"We found parts of the aerial bomb on the device...and we can say for now that it is an aerial bomb that was used on Soviet-made planes," he said. Croatian Defense Minister Mario Banozic told reporters.

A device “launched on the territory of Ukraine”

Croatian authorities said on Saturday that the device, "launched on the territory of Ukraine", was a Tupolev Tu-141 Strizh, a remote-controlled aircraft manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s for the needs of the Soviet army which used for reconnaissance missions.

According to the Minister, this drone of more than 6 tons has undergone "modifications (...) according to all evidence, recently".

"The traces of the explosive and other elements found suggest that this device was not intended for reconnaissance," said Mario Banozic.

He did not indicate whether the bomb had exploded, and was unable to specify the type.

The wreckage of the drone and the fragments of the bomb will be transported "to a military zone where a detailed analysis will be made", he explained.

The machine crashed Thursday evening in a park located six kilometers from the center of Zagreb, next to a university city housing 4,500 students and some 200 meters from a residential area, without causing any casualties.

Forty cars parked in a parking lot were damaged.

The discovery of the black box to determine its starting point

The investigators also discovered the "black box" of the machine which should allow, with the coordinates of the trajectory recorded by radars, to determine its starting point, according to the minister.

He announced that the fall of the drone would be discussed at a ministerial meeting of NATO member countries on Wednesday, and in particular "failures that occurred in Romania and Hungary".

Croatian authorities say the craft flew for around 40 minutes in Hungarian airspace and that Croatia was not notified.

Before crashing in Zagreb, the drone flew for seven minutes in Croatian space, according to the same source.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Saturday deplored the lack of coordination within NATO in this "incident".