Russian drone hits Romanian apartment block, injures two in first such strike

Smoke and fear swept through a 10-storey apartment block in Galați after a Russian drone crashed onto the roof, triggered a fire and injured a 53-year-old woman and her 14-year-old son. About 70 residents were evacuated from the building in the southeastern Romanian city, where investigators kept the perimeter sealed as firefighters and emergency crews moved in.

Romanian officials said the drone crossed into Romanian airspace during overnight Russian attacks on Ukraine and remained there for about four minutes before striking the apartment block. The Ministry of National Defense identified it as a Geran-2, the Russian version of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136, and said the explosives on board detonated on impact. Two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter were scrambled, but officials said there was not enough time to bring the aircraft down safely.

The strike has put Romania’s border defenses under a harsher spotlight than any drone incident since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Romanian authorities called it the first time a residential building outside Ukraine had been hit by a drone in the war, and President Nicușor Dan described it as the most serious incident to affect Romanian national territory since fighting began. For communities along the Ukraine and Moldova frontiers, the question now is not only how close the war has come, but whether NATO air defenses have made civilian life materially safer than they were a year ago.

The building hit in Galați sits in a region that has already felt the spillover of the war. About a month ago, another Russian drone incident in the city damaged an outbuilding but caused no injuries. This time, the damage reached directly into a home, with the blast and fire forcing families out into the street and leaving a residential block as the latest reminder that border towns are no longer insulated from the conflict next door.

Romania responded with a sharp diplomatic escalation. Dan declared the Russian consul in Constanța persona non grata, ordered the Russian consulate in the Black Sea port city closed and summoned the Russian ambassador. NATO said it would defend every inch of allied territory, while the European Union said it stood in full solidarity with Romania. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia had crossed yet another line. Moscow rejected the accusation, with Vladimir Putin saying there was no evidence and that the aircraft’s origin needed to be examined.

For the people pulled from the Galați apartment block, the argument over air-defense credibility came after the smoke, the burns and the evacuation. The immediate reality was more basic: a war drone had reached a Romanian home, and the border had proved porous enough to let it happen.