A Russian drone that was part of an overnight attack on Ukraine crashed into an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people, authorities said, in what an official statement condemned as an “irresponsible escalation” by Moscow.
The drone was tracked by radar in Romanian airspace and crashed on to the roof of a building in Galati on Friday, said Romania’s defence ministry. The impact was followed by a fire. Two people sustained cuts that required medical treatment, and several people were evacuated.
Police and other agencies responded at the scene. Galati is on the Danube River, east of the borders with Moldova and Ukraine.
The Romanian military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter that were authorised to engage targets, and alert messages were sent to residents of the affected areas.
Romania’s foreign ministry described the drone incident as a “grave and irresponsible escalation” from Russia.
It said the country would take the necessary diplomatic measures to respond to what it described as a “serious breach of international law” and its airspace.
It said also it had asked Nato to accelerate the transfer of anti-drone capabilities to Romania.
A Nato spokesperson condemned “Russia’s recklessness” and said the alliance would strengthen its defences against all threats, including drones.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Thursday told the UN security council that more civilians had been killed in the Russia-Ukraine war in the first four months of this year than in the same period of the past three years. Guterres called for more diplomacy, immediate de-escalation and “a full and unconditional ceasefire”, warning of “unknown and unintended consequences” from the escalation and intensification of attacks.
Russia has been using long-range ballistic missiles and drones to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer cities, and Ukraine has been bracing for further heavy bombardments.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Thursday that he was pressing the US to provide more Patriot air defence missiles that can counter Russian ballistic missile attacks.
With Associated Press and Reuters