Russian drone hits an apartment block in Romania, NATO condemns

Written by journalist Danylo Aleksandrov

In the first hours of the morning on Friday a drone later identified as Russian crashed into an apartment block in Romania, which injured 2 people and caused a fire. Later NATO issued a statement condemning Russia for the incident.

Drone hit a building located in the town of Galați in eastern Romania. It lies near the border with Ukraine. Although Russian drones have entered Romanian airspace several times since the start of military operations in Ukraine, this is the first time it caused injuries to country’s citizens. According to local emergency services, the detonation of the drone’s payload caused a fire on the 10th floor of the residential block. Two injured people were delivered to the town’s hospital to receive medical care, while 70 residents of the building had to be evacuated.

Romanian Ministry of Defense said that it scrambled 2 fighter jets, there were only around 4 minutes of time from the detection of the drone until it hit the building in Galați. Romanian military stated that the task was made harder as the county’s airforce could not use munitions that would violate Ukrainian airspace. They also explained that the incident is not an act of war.Later it was added that the drone was identified as Geran 2 (often designated as Shahed 136) – a UAV in Russian arsenal, used repeatedly in invasion of Ukraine as a kamikaze drone.

The Russian ambassador was summoned by Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, President Nicușor Dan said that the Russian consul will be declared persona non grata and expelled from the country. Also, Romania requested that the transferring of anti-drone armaments from NATO would be accelerated.

Allies and partners of Romania in EU and NATO rallied to support the country, though it was underlined that what happened is an incident and not an article 5 trigger. Mark Rutte, the Alliance’s secretary general, vowed that the organization will defend every inch of its members’ territory. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in her X said that Russia crossed a new red line, and that EU will provide aid to Romania, at the same time increasing the pressure on Russia. Support also came from Ukraine, as its President Volodymyr Zelensky offered help and whatever support needed.