By Luiza Ilie and Jekaterina Golubkova
BUCHAREST, May 29 (Reuters) – NATO member Romania said on Friday that a drone injured two people in a southeastern city during an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the first time in the war that a drone had hit a densely populated area in Romania and caused injuries.
The incident in Romania, also a member of the European Union, was likely to increase tensions on NATO’s eastern flank at a time when Ukraine’s allies are worried about Russia’s war on its neighbour spilling over its borders.
The drone hit the roof of a 10-storey block of flats in Galati and caused an explosion, the authorities said.
Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, has experienced Russian drones breaching its airspace 28 times since Moscow began attacking Kyiv’s ports across the Danube river, Romania’s defence ministry said.
‘SERIOUS VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW’, ROMANIA SAYS
The ministry said it had recovered drone fragments that fell in Romania 47 times.
“Romania will take the necessary diplomatic measures in response to this serious violation of international law and its airspace,” Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said on X.
“Romania has informed the Allies and the NATO Secretary General of the circumstances and has requested measures to accelerate the transfer of anti-drone capabilities to Romania.”
The defence ministry said it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a military helicopter to monitor the attack, adding the pilots were authorised to shoot down any drones. The residents of border counties Braila, Galati and Tulcea were warned to take cover.
Romanian law allows it to shoot down drones during peacetime if lives or property are at risk, but it has not yet done so.
Ukrainian drones have strayed into Baltic countries’ airspace in recent weeks, sowing confusion and raising tensions with Russia.
In Friday’s incident, a fire broke out in a 10th-floor apartment after the drone struck the building’s roof and exploded, Romania’s emergency response agency said. Two people were receiving medical treatment on site, it said, adding 70 people had evacuated.
State news agency Agerpres cited Galati’s emergency response agency as saying a woman and her child had been taken to hospital with minor injuries while two others had been treated on site for panic attacks.
DRONE WITH UNEXPLODED PAYLOAD ALSO REPORTED
The drone’s entire explosive payload detonated, and the fire was extinguished, the emergency agency said.
The defence ministry said radar lost contact with the drone as it entered Galati as it was flying very low to the ground.
Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat, who is in charge of the emergency response agency, told private broadcaster Digi24 the drone affected two building stairwells and damaged five cars.
In a separate incident, a drone without an explosive charge was found around Basesti in Maramures county in northwestern Romania and the area was secured, state TVR broadcaster said late on Thursday, citing local authorities.
The authorities were investigating the origin of the drone, which the report said had a wingspan of about 3 metres (10 feet), and how it happened to be in the area, TVR added.
Local authorities in southern Ukraine, meanwhile, said the Izmail port in the Odesa region came under attack from several drones early on Friday.
Izmail, close to the Romanian border, is home to the largest Ukrainian port on the Danube River and is a frequently targeted strategic location.
Galati was last hit in April, when a drone damaged an electricity pole and a household annex, prompting evacuations. Officials retrieved that drone to detonate its unexploded payload remotely.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest, Jekaterina Golubkova in Tokyo, Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Kate Mayberry)
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