Romania's Ministry of Defense revealed that a Russian attack drone crashed onto the roof of a residential building in the city of Galați, near the Ukrainian border, causing a fire and injuring two people. This is the first time a drone from the Russia-Ukraine war has struck a civilian residential building in Romania, a NATO member country.
Romania's Ministry of Defense stated that a Russian attack drone crashed into a residential building in the southern city of Galați, resulting in two civilians being injured and requiring medical treatment.
A statement from the Romanian military said, "On the night of May 28 to 29, Russia launched a new wave of drone attacks targeting civilian and infrastructure sites in Ukraine near the water border with Romania. However, one drone crossed into Romanian airspace. Radar detected the signal as far south as Galați before the drone collided with the roof of a residential building, causing a fire."
After the incident, emergency services quickly controlled the situation and extinguished the fire. Although Romanian authorities have detected dozens of drones crossing into their airspace since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, this latest event is the "first" time a drone has directly struck a civilian residential building. The military immediately dispatched two F-16 fighter jets to intercept the intruding object upon detection.
NATO stated it will strengthen defenses against all threats, including drones, following a drone crashing into the roof of a 10-story apartment building in Galați in southeastern Romania during a Russian attack on Ukraine overnight. A NATO spokesperson said in a post on the social media platform X, "We condemn Russia's recklessness and NATO will continue to strengthen defenses against all threats, including drones."
This incident occurred amid intensified Russian bombardment of Ukraine, with Ukraine issuing nationwide air raid alerts throughout the night. In southern Ukraine, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, at least two people were reported injured.
Tensions along the border near the war zone are creating significant pressure on NATO member countries, including Romania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland, which are at risk of stray drones from both sides crossing their airspace. Just weeks earlier, Latvia's government collapsed and had to form a new cabinet after the former female prime minister dismissed the defense minister for failing and delaying air defense systems to intercept Ukrainian drones mistakenly entering Latvian territory, which were believed to have been jammed and lost control due to Russian signal interference.
Although the incident in Latvia caused only minor damage, it sparked nationwide alarm, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to offer experts to assist Latvia in upgrading its air defense system. Zelensky also called on the United States to expedite the delivery of additional Patriot air defense missiles to counter the increasingly intense Russian guided missile attacks.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the protracted war entering its fourth year are showing signs of stagnation. Since the U.S. government shifted its focus to the conflict with Iran in February, the European Union's chief foreign policy official has clearly stated rejection of a "neutral mediator" role between Ukraine and Russia.
This stance follows discussions among foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states about conditions for opening negotiations with Russia. Although Ukraine has pushed for Europe to take a leading role in talks instead of the U.S., the EU has affirmed it cannot act as a neutral party, given its clear position in supporting and assisting Ukraine consistently.