Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who was conducting a day-long visit to Spain on Wednesday, visited the NATO military base near Madrid in the morning.

Plenkovic landed at the NATO base in Torrejon de Ardoz, some 20 kilometres from Madrid, and met with the base commander, Lieutenant General Fernando De La Cruz Caravaca. Reporters were not allowed to enter the base.

After meeting with Cruz, Plenkovic headed to Government House where he will meet with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez. This is a reciprocal visit after Sanchez visited Zagreb in last October.

Plenkovic decided to visit the Torrejon base after a drone, launched from war-torn Ukraine, fell in Zagreb last Thursday. The NATO base is used to control the skies of the alliance’s southern members, including Croatia. Since 2014 the Combined Air Operations Centre Torrejon has had the task of “visually identifying unknown aircraft,” however it did not react when the drone entered Croatian air space.

Plenkovic is expected to meet with Spanish Parliament Speaker Meritxell Batet and King Felipe VI. He will conclude his visit with a meeting with the Croatian community in Madrid.