Romania says Russian drone hit apartment block, NATO vows to defend alliance territory

GALATI, Romania — NATO accused Moscow on Friday of reckless behavior and pledged to “defend every inch of Allied territory” after Romania said a Russian drone had crashed into an apartment block in the alliance member state during an attack on neighboring Ukraine.

Romania’s defense ministry said a woman and a child suffered minor injuries in Galati near the border with Ukraine overnight after radar tracked a Russian drone entering Romanian airspace.

Photos from the scene showed charred and damaged brickwork on the roof of the 10-story apartment block which Romanian authorities said was hit by a drone that exploded on impact, tearing through a top-floor flat.

Russia’s TASS news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the incident.

Separately, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia’s powerful Security Council, warned European leaders that drones would continue to stray into their countries and prevent their populations from sleeping peacefully.

It was the first time a densely populated area in a NATO country had been hit causing injuries during Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the incident is likely to increase tensions on the alliance’s eastern flank as member states worry about the war spilling over their borders.

“Russia’s reckless behavior is a danger to us all,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on X after speaking by phone to Romanian President Nicusor Dan, whose country is in both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.

“I affirmed that NATO stands ready to defend every inch of Allied territory,” he said, without making any mention of triggering NATO’s mutual defense clause. “We will continue to enhance our readiness to deter and defend against any threat, including from drones.”

Dan said the Russian consulate in the southeastern city of Constanta would be closed and the consul expelled.

TASS quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying Moscow would respond swiftly to Bucharest’s decision to close the consulate.

‘NATO needs to to something’

Romania, which shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine, said Russian drones had breached its airspace 28 times since Moscow began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube River following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Stephen Evelyn, a 44-year-old American citizen who lives in Galati, called it “another provocation by the Russians.”

“I don’t believe this was an accident, this has happened too many times for the Russians to be doing this by accident,” he said. “Either that or they’re highly incompetent at waging war, but NATO needs to do something about this.”

There have been multiple airspace incursions into NATO airspace since Moscow invaded Ukraine, most notably when more than 20 Russian drones entered Poland’s airspace on the night of Sept. 9-10, 2025.

In recent weeks Ukrainian drones have strayed into Baltic countries’ airspace , sowing confusion and raising tensions with Russia.

Romania has asked NATO allies to deploy additional anti-drone capabilities to Romania, with official sources saying Bucharest needs low-altitude radars and interceptor drones. A NATO spokesperson said on Friday “potential additional defensive measures are considered.”

Romania scrambled F-16 jets

Local authorities in southern Ukraine said Izmail port in the Odesa region, across the border from Galati, had come under attack from drones early on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv was ready to support Romania “in whatever way is necessary.”

The Romanian defense ministry said two F-16 fighter jets had been scrambled and a military helicopter was sent to monitor the attack, with the pilots authorized to shoot down any drones without endangering inhabited areas. The residents of border counties Braila, Galati and Tulcea were warned to take cover.

The drone was in Romania’s airspace for four minutes and flew at a low altitude for 10 km (6.2 miles), making it difficult for radar to detect, Romanian Brigadier General Gheorghe Maxim said.

He told a press conference that although the U.S. anti-drone system Merops is operational in Romania it is not yet fully integrated with national air defenses and it would have been too risky to use in a city.

In addition to the woman and her child who were taken to hospital with minor injuries, two people were treated on the scene for panic attacks and 70 were evacuated from the apartment block, local authorities said.

Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat, who is in charge of the emergency response agency, told private broadcaster Digi24 that the drone affected two building stairwells, an elevator shaft and damaged five cars.

A drone also damaged an electricity pole and a household annex in Galati in April.

In a separate incident, a drone without an explosive charge was found in northwestern Romania, state TVR broadcaster said late on Thursday, citing local authorities.

罗马尼亚加拉茨——北约周五指责莫斯科行为鲁莽，并誓言“捍卫盟国的每一寸领土”。此前，罗马尼亚称一架俄罗斯无人机在袭击邻国乌克兰期间坠毁在该联盟成员国境内的一栋公寓楼。

罗马尼亚国防部表示，昨晚在靠近乌克兰边境的加拉茨，一名妇女和一名儿童受轻伤，原因是雷达追踪到一架俄罗斯无人机进入罗马尼亚领空。

现场照片显示，这座 10 层公寓楼的屋顶砖墙被烧焦和损坏。罗马尼亚当局称，一架无人机击中了这座公寓楼，并在撞击时爆炸，炸穿了顶层的一间公寓。

俄罗斯塔斯社援引克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫的话说，总统弗拉基米尔·普京已被告知此事。

另外，俄罗斯强大的安全委员会副主席德米特里·梅德韦杰夫警告欧洲领导人，无人机将继续闯入他们的国家，使他们的人民无法安睡。

这是北约国家人口稠密地区在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰战争期间首次遭到袭击并造成人员伤亡，此次事件可能会加剧北约东翼的紧张局势，因为成员国担心战争会蔓延到他们的边界。

北约秘书长马克·吕特在与罗马尼亚总统尼库索尔·丹通电话后表示：“俄罗斯的鲁莽行为对我们所有人都是一种危险。”罗马尼亚既是北大西洋公约组织成员国，也是欧盟成员国。

“我重申，北约随时准备保卫盟国的每一寸领土，”他说道，但并未提及启动北约共同防御条款。“我们将继续加强战备，以威慑和防御任何威胁，包括无人机威胁。”

丹表示，俄罗斯驻东南部城市康斯坦察的领事馆将被关闭，领事将被驱逐。

塔斯社援引俄罗斯外交部发言人玛丽亚·扎哈罗娃的话说，莫斯科将迅速回应布加勒斯特关闭领事馆的决定。

北约需要采取行动。

与乌克兰接壤的罗马尼亚拥有 650 公里（400 英里）的陆地边界。罗马尼亚表示，自 2022 年莫斯科全面入侵乌克兰后开始袭击多瑙河对岸的乌克兰港口以来，俄罗斯无人机已 28 次侵犯其领空。

居住在加拉茨的44岁美国公民斯蒂芬·伊夫林称其为“俄罗斯人的又一次挑衅”。

“我不认为这是一起意外，俄罗斯人这种事发生过太多次了，不可能是偶然发生的，”他说。“要么就是他们根本不擅长打仗，但北约必须对此采取行动。”

自莫斯科入侵乌克兰以来，北约领空多次遭到入侵，其中最引人注目的是 2025 年 9 月 9 日至 10 日夜间，20 多架俄罗斯无人机进入波兰领空。

最近几周，乌克兰无人机多次闯入波罗的海国家的领空，造成混乱，并加剧了与俄罗斯的紧张关系。

罗马尼亚已请求北约盟国向其部署更多反无人机能力，官方消息称布加勒斯特需要低空雷达和拦截无人机。北约发言人周五表示，“正在考虑采取额外的防御措施”。

罗马尼亚紧急出动F-16战机

乌克兰南部地方当局称，位于敖德萨州、与加拉茨隔河相望的伊兹梅尔港于周五清晨遭到无人机袭击。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基表示，基辅准备“以任何必要方式”支持罗马尼亚。

罗马尼亚国防部表示，已紧急出动两架F-16战斗机，并派出一架军用直升机监视袭击事件，飞行员获准在不危及居民区的前提下击落任何无人机。布勒伊拉、加拉茨和图尔恰等边境县的居民被警告寻找掩护。

罗马尼亚准将格奥尔基·马克西姆表示，这架无人机在罗马尼亚领空停留了四分钟，低空飞行了 10 公里（6.2 英里），使得雷达难以探测到它。

他在新闻发布会上表示，虽然美国的反无人机系统 Merops 已在罗马尼亚投入使用，但尚未与国家防空系统完全整合，在城市中使用风险太大。

当地政府表示，除了一名女子和她的孩子因轻伤被送往医院外，还有两人因恐慌症在现场接受治疗，70人从公寓楼撤离。

负责应急响应机构的内政部副部长拉伊德·阿拉法特告诉私人广播公司 Digi24，无人机影响了两栋建筑的楼梯间、一个电梯井，并损坏了五辆汽车。

今年四月，一架无人机还在加拉茨损坏了一根电线杆和一栋民宅附属建筑。

另一起事件中，罗马尼亚西北部发现一架未装填爆炸物的无人机。罗马尼亚国家电视台TVR周四晚间援引当地政府的消息报道称。