Russian Drone Hits Romanian Apartment Building
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- A Russian drone struck an apartment building in Galați, Romania, on the night of May 28-29, wounding two people with abrasions and sparking a fire — the first time a Russian drone has hit a residential building or caused injuries inside Romania
- Romania's defense ministry scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after detecting the drone, and a senior NATO official told CBS News the alliance deployed an E-3A Airborne Early Warning aircraft to boost air-domain awareness
- The senior NATO official said the drone was tracked from Ukrainian airspace but entered Romania only minutes before impact, traveling nearly 200 km/h over a populated area less than 15 km from the border — too little time to neutralize it
- NATO accused Russia of "reckless behavior" and pledged to "defend every inch of Allied territory," while Romania's president said domestic air defenses were bolstered and alliance partners would transfer equipment — without specifying what or when
- Romania has detected drone incursions dozens of times since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and this is the second time it has scrambled F-16s after a similar September 2024 breach, when Poland also shot down Russian drones in its own airspace
- Latvia appointed a new government on Thursday, two weeks after its previous administration collapsed over a political row about stray Ukrainian drones entering its airspace — underscoring how drone incursions are destabilizing frontline NATO governments, not just airspace
Why it matters: Romania is the first NATO member to suffer a direct Russian drone strike on a residential building with civilian injuries, transforming the drone-spillover problem from a border nuisance into a casualty-producing event. With Latvia's government having already collapsed over the same issue and NATO still publicly "assessing what more can be done" to optimize sensors and shooters, the alliance is visibly playing catch-up on a threat that is now striking populated areas in member states.
