A Russian drone that was part of an overnight attack on Ukraine crashed into an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people, Romanian authorities said on Friday (May 29, 2026).

In response to the crash, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member Romania asked the alliance for a faster transfer of anti-drone capabilities, the Foreign Ministry said, calling the drone’s flight a serious violation of international law.

The drone was tracked by radar in Romanian airspace and crashed onto the roof of a building in Galati, Romania’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The impact was followed by a fire. Two people suffered minor injuries, and several people were evacuated.

Police and other agencies responded at the scene. Galati is on the Danube River, east of the borders of 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.

Russia has been using long-range ballistic missiles and drones to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer cities, and Ukraine has braced for further heavy bombardments.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday (May 28, 2026) he was pressing the United States to provide more Patriot air defense missiles that can counter the Russian attacks.

He warned that deliveries to Ukraine are falling dangerously short as the Iran war diverts and depletes U.S. stocks. “I believe [the U.S.] must act quicker. We are being very persistent,” Mr. Zelenskyy told reporters during a visit to Sweden.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres warned the UN Security Council that the escalation and intensification of attacks risks getting out of control, with “unknown and unintended consequences”. He said that more civilians have been killed in the first four months of this year than in the same period in the past three years.

Mr. Guterres called for more diplomacy, immediate de-escalation and “a full and unconditional ceasefire”.

Romania on Sunday (September 14, 2025) strongly condemned the entry of a Russian drone into its airspace during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine, saying Moscow’s actions pose a “new challenge” to Black Sea security.

Romania’s Foreign Minister said the Russian Ambassador would be summoned over the second incident involving Russian drones in a European country in the past week.

Poland had already denounced the intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace, calling on Moscow to avoid further “provocations”. Polish fighter jets scrambled Saturday in response to fresh Russian drone strikes just over the border in Ukraine.

NATO member Romania has had several drone fragments crash on its territory since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, especially as Russia has steps up attacks on Ukrainian ports.

In a statement following the drone’s entry on Saturday, Romania’s defence ministry said it “strongly condemns the irresponsible actions of the Russian Federation and emphasizes that they represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the Black Sea area.”

It added that “such incidents demonstrate the Russian Federation’s lack of respect for international law.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the Russian action a “reckless” threat to security.

“The violation of Romanian airspace by Russian drones is yet another unacceptable breach of an EU member state’s sovereignty,” Kallas wrote on X.

“This continued reckless escalation threatens regional security. We stand in solidarity with Romania. I am in close contact with the Romanian government.”

Jets scrambled

Russia has not yet commented since Romania reported late Saturday that its airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack in neighbouring Ukraine.

The country scrambled two F-16 fighter jets, which “detected a drone in national airspace” and tracked it until it dropped off the radar, the defence ministry said.

In its statement, the ministry said that a “Geran drone used by” Russia had entered Romanian airspace.

It added that the drone “orbited for about 50 minutes, from northeast of (the village of) Chilia Veche to southwest of Izmail, and left national airspace near the town of Pardina, heading towards Ukraine”.

Romania’s fighter jets were “supported by German allies… with two Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft”, which monitored the situation.

The drone did not fly over populated areas and did not pose an imminent threat to the safety of the population, said the statement.

Romania’s Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said on X that she will “raise Russia’s actions at (the) UN General Assembly, urging a strict international adherence to sanctions”.

Toiu told Romanian channel Digi 24 that the Russian ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, would be summoned over the airspace breach.

In February, the Romanian parliament adopted a law that makes it possible for the country to shoot down drones breaching its airspace.