A Russian drone struck an apartment building in NATO-member Romania early Friday, injuring two people in what marks a sharp escalation in spillover from the war in Ukraine. The incident drew strong condemnation from the Atlantic alliance and the European Union.
Romania summoned the Russian ambassador, while President Nicusor Dan convened the national defense council, calling it “the most serious incident to have affected our national territory” since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The drone hit a residential building in the city of Galati, near the Ukrainian border, sparking a fire and sending a 14-year-old boy and a 53-year-old woman to a hospital with serious injuries, officials said.
Romania has reported dozens of drone incursions since the start of the war, but this is the first confirmed strike on a residential building.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia’s “war of aggression has crossed yet another line” with the strike. “We stand in full solidarity with Romania and its people,” she wrote on social media, pledging to increase deterrence along the EU’s eastern border and to keep increasing pressure on Russia.
NATO condemned Moscow’s “recklessness” and expressed “absolute solidarity” with Romania, while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called it “an irresponsible act.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte wrote on social media after a call with the Romanian president that “Russia’s reckless behavior is a danger to us all.”
“I affirmed that NATO stands ready to defend every inch of Allied territory,” Rutte said.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu, whose country lies between Romania and Ukraine and has also reported repeated drone incursions and debris falling on its territory, said Russia was a “danger to all.”
During the night of May 28-29, Russia resumed drone attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine near the river border with Romania, Romania’s defense ministry said.
One of the drones entered Romanian airspace, was tracked by radar as far as the southern part of Galati, and crashed onto the roof of an apartment building, triggering a fire, the ministry said.
Two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled after drones were detected in Romanian airspace, it added.
A nationwide air raid alert had been issued in neighboring Ukraine overnight in anticipation of Russian strikes. At least two people were wounded in an attack in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, local authorities said.
Romania’s defense ministry called the incident a “serious and irresponsible escalation” by Russia, adding that Bucharest had requested measures to accelerate the transfer of anti-drone capabilities.
NATO member states bordering Ukraine or Russia, including Romania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, are increasingly exposed to drone incursions from both warring sides.
Latvia, which borders Russia, appointed a new government on Thursday, two weeks after the collapse of the previous administration amid political disputes over stray drone incursions, which exposed weaknesses in the country’s air defenses.
Ukraine’s navy said Friday that a Russian drone hit a Turkish cargo ship that had left the port of Odesa, sparking a fire and wounding two crew members.
Russia said its air defenses intercepted more than 200 Ukrainian drones overnight, with one person killed in the Volgograd region after a drone strike on a chemical factory.
The attacks followed a series of Russian strikes on Ukraine over the weekend in one of the most severe waves since the start of the war.
Russia has threatened to escalate bombardments in retaliation for a Ukrainian strike that Moscow says killed 21 people at a school in occupied territory.
Moscow announced Monday it had begun a campaign of “systematic” strikes on Kyiv after battering Ukraine with hundreds of drones and a hypersonic missile over the weekend, and called on diplomats and foreigners to leave the Ukrainian capital.
