BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — 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 Friday.
In response to the crash, 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 Moldova and Ukraine borders.
The Romanian military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter that were authorized 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.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the incident showed that “Russia’s war of aggression has crossed yet another line.”
“A Russian drone incursion struck a densely populated area in Romania, injuring civilians,” she said in a social media post. “On EU territory.’
She added that the EU will keep strengthening security along its eastern border and was actively drafting another set of sanctions against Russia, the 21st so far.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday 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,” Zelenskyy told reporters during a visit to Sweden.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the U.N. 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.
Guterres called for more diplomacy, immediate de-escalation and “a full and unconditional ceasefire.”
