Citing a report by Croatian news portal index.hr, hvg.hu said that the Tu-141 drone entered Croatian airspace from Hungary at an altitude of 1,300 meters, flying at 700 km/h.
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic posted a video shortly before noon saying the plane had been flying over Hungary for more than 40 minutes and Croatia for less than seven minutes before crashing due to running out of fuel. No injuries were reported. He also said the uncrewed plane may have entered the region from Ukraine.
The Croatian President said that, for the time being, it did not appear that the operation in which the drone was involved was directed against Croatia.
Milanovic said authorities were investigating how an aircraft could spend more than an hour in NATO airspace without being noticed.
According to a report by 24.hu, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that it is unclear whether the drone was operated by Ukraine or Russia.
According to 444.hu, Markijan Lubkjivski, advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, denied that the drone that crashed in Zagreb belonged to Ukrainian forces, responding to a query by Croatian news outlet Jutarnji List.
Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó confirmed that the drone passed through Hungarian airspace.
"Our authorities are investigating the incident because, according to the information currently available, the airspace of several NATO member states, including Hungary, was involved in the drone flight. We are working closely with the Croatian authorities and our other NATO allies in the investigation," he wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.
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