Croatia criticizes NATO after crash of Russian-made drone

Croatian officials criticized NATO on Saturday for what they said was its slow reaction to a military drone that apparently flew all the way from the Ukrainian war zone over several NATO member states, before crashing in an urban zone of the Croatian capital.

The Russian-made unmanned aircraft crossed Romania and Hungary before entering Croatia and slamming late Thursday into a field near a student dormitory. Some 40 parked cars were damaged but no one was injured after a loud blast.

NATO said the alliance's integrated air and missile defence had tracked the object's flight path. But the Croatian prime minister said the country's authorities were not informed and that NATO reacted only after question were posed by journalists.

"We cannot tolerate this situation, nor should it have ever happened," Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said while visiting the crash site.

"This was a pure and clear threat and both NATO and the EU should have reacted," he said. "We will work to raise the readiness not only of us but of others as well."