Russian Drone Hits Romanian Apartment Building, Officials Say

Russia’s war with Ukraine spilled into Romania, a member of NATO, on Friday when Romanian authorities said a Russian drone had hit an apartment building in a major port city, wounding two people. It was the first known time a Russian drone had caused damage and injuries in a major urban area on the territory of the Western military alliance.

Russian drones have repeatedly crashed without causing casualties along the Danube River border between Romania and Ukraine since 2023. But the drone crash Friday, on the roof of a residential compound in the port city of Galati, sharply escalated tensions between NATO and Moscow.

The episode comes amid heightened fears that Russia might seek to expand the war beyond Ukraine to target a member of the NATO security alliance.

It was unclear whether Romania was targeted or the drone was a stray that went off course. A senior Western military official said there was “no doubt” that the drone that hit the apartment building was Russian. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said that NATO and Romania were investigating the cause of the crash, adding that it was probably either careless behavior by the Russian military or jamming that knocked the drone off course.

NATO on Friday condemned “Russia’s recklessness” for the drone crash in Romania, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, said, “Russia’s war of aggression has crossed yet another line.”

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said her country had asked the NATO alliance to speed up the transfer of anti-drone capabilities to her country.

Toiu said she had summoned Russia’s ambassador in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, to communicate “the consequences that this lack of responsibility on the part of the Russian Federation will have for the diplomatic relations between our countries.” Later Friday, Romania announced that it was closing a Russian consulate in Constanta, a city on the Black Sea, and expelling the consul general.

President Nicusor Dan of Romania said he had convened the National Defense Council and would “order proportionate measures in relation to the Russian Federation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to take responsibility for the drone accident, suggesting that this could have been a stray Ukrainian drone.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Andrew Higgins and Cassandra Vinograd
c. 2026 The New York Times Company

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