By Thomas Grove
A Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in NATO member Romania on Friday, raising tensions with the alliance and stoking fears that Russia will attempt to expand its war beyond Ukraine.
Romania scrambled jet fighters in an attempt to intercept the drone after it crossed the border from Ukraine into the southeastern city of Galati, where it set the roof of the apartment building on fire and injured several people, authorities said.
The drone incursion raised alarms among North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies and fed European fears that Russia is working to escalate its confrontation with the alliance over its aid to Ukraine as Moscow struggles on the battlefield.
"Russia's reckless behavior is a danger to us all," said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. "They continue to target civilians and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. And last night showed yet again that the implications of their illegal war of aggression don't stop at the border."
Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned whether the drone was Russian and called on Romania to hand over the wreckage so that Russia could conduct its own investigation. "No one can say the origin of this or that aircraft until an examination of that aircraft is conducted," he said.
Last week, suspected Russian drones approached Lithuania from Belarus, triggering air-raid alarms and sending the government into a bunker. Russia also recently threatened to bomb Latvia over accusations that it was hosting Ukrainian drone operators that were striking Russian targets, a claim Latvia denied.
On Friday, Putin reiterated his claims against Latvia. He said that Russia didn't want conflict with the West, but added that Moscow would counter direct military threats. "Anywhere that presents a threat, I want to underscore, a direct military threat to Russia, is a legal target," he said.
It was unclear whether the drone was intentionally sent across the border, but Russian drones have increasingly strayed into NATO territory. Romania has repeatedly reported Russian drones entering its airspace, and some have previously crashed in remote areas.
"Full responsibility lies with the Russian Federation, whose behavior demonstrates total disregard for international law and for the safety of the citizens of a NATO member state," Romanian President Nicusor Dan said in a post on X.
The drone incursions have highlighted the vulnerability of Europe's air defense systems against drones, which have become a fixture of the war in Ukraine. Last year, Western officials said a swarm of Russian drones that entered Poland's airspace appeared to be an attempt to test the country's defense systems and NATO's response. After that, NATO allies donated aircraft and air defense systems to bolster its eastern flank.
There are growing fears in Europe that Russia could do something to spark greater confrontation with NATO as its war effort in Ukraine falters. Russia is struggling to recruit enough new soldiers to replace the tens of thousands of troops it is losing each month on the battlefield, and its economy is showing the strains of more than four years of war despite rising oil prices.
Russia could use tensions with NATO to get allies to hold back military supplies from Ukraine and provide a basis for a renewed military mobilization at home, say Russian and European analysts.
Russia's efforts to destabilize the West and undermine NATO were directly linked to its growing hardships on the front line, said John Foreman, a former U.K. defense attaché to Moscow and Kyiv. "It can't compete on a level playing field so seeks to undermine European democracy and sow discord. The tools change but the intent remains the same."
Romania hosts around 1,000 U.S. soldiers primarily on two bases, including the Deveselu military base that maintains the U.S. Navy's Aegis Ashore missile defense system, part of NATO's ballistic-missile defense network.
The country has been a stalwart U.S. ally and earlier this year approved a request from the U.S. to allow the deployment of refueling planes, as well as surveillance and satellite-communications equipment, on the country's bases to support the war against Iran.
The U.S. said last year that it would rotate the 2nd Infantry Brigade combat team of the 101st Airborne division out of Romania, in one of the Trump administration's first steps to reduce its military footprint in Europe. The Pentagon said at the time that the move didn't represent a lessening of its commitment to NATO.
"We stand with our NATO ally Romania and condemn this reckless incursion on its territory," said the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker.
Romanian Brig. Gen. Gheorghe Maxim said that the military can't shoot over Ukrainian territory and had only had four minutes between the moment when the drone crossed into the country's airspace and when it crashed into the apartment block.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat said the drone crash represented a "blatant and serious violation of Romania's sovereignty and European airspace."
Dan, the Romanian president, said that the country had informed all of its NATO allies and EU partners. He also said that Romania had requested additional antidrone capabilities from its allies and had alerted the United Nations Security Council.
Following an emergency defense council meeting, he said Romania would close a Russian consulate in Constanta and expel its consul general. Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would respond in turn.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that incursion into Romanian airspace proved the threat that Russia poses to the Black Sea region and Europe as a whole and echoed entreaties to allies to boost aid to Ukraine, in particular air defense. Ukraine is facing a shortage of air defense munitions, while much of the U.S. supplies have recently gone to allies in the Middle East.
Write to Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 29, 2026 14:26 ET (18:26 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments