Russian drone hits apartment building in Romania, says Bucharest

A Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in Romania, injuring two people in a city near the Ukrainian border, the country’s defence ministry said on Friday.

The incident occurred overnight as Russia resumed drone attacks on targets in Ukraine near the Danube river border with Romania, a member of NATO.

According to the Romanian defence ministry, one drone entered Romanian airspace, was tracked by radar over the southern part of Galati, and crashed onto the roof of an apartment building, sparking a fire.

Emergency officials said two people suffered minor injuries and received medical treatment, while the fire was later extinguished.

Romania has recorded dozens of drone incursions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but this was the first known case of a drone striking a residential building in the country.

The Romanian military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after the drones were detected in its airspace.

The strike came amid intensifying Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine. Authorities in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia said at least two people were wounded in overnight bombardments.

The latest incident has heightened concerns among NATO countries bordering Ukraine and Russia, including Romania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, over the growing risk of drone incursions linked to the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has meanwhile urged the United States to provide additional Patriot missile defence ammunition to help counter Russian ballistic missile attacks.