European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said Russia “has crossed yet another line” after a drone struck a residential building in the eastern Romanian city of Galați, near the border with Ukraine, injuring civilians on European Union territory.
The drone hit the roof of a block of flats in the early hours of May 29, starting a fire, according to Romania’s defence ministry. Two people suffered minor injuries and the building was evacuated.
“Russia’s war of aggression has crossed yet another line,” von der Leyen said in a post on social media. She said the strike had hit “a densely populated area in Romania, injuring civilians. On EU territory”.
Von der Leyen said the EU stood in “full solidarity” with Romania and its people.
She said that while the bloc kept strengthening its security and deterrence, particularly along its eastern border, it would keep raising pressure on Moscow. The EU was preparing a 21st package of sanctions against Russia, she said.
European Council President António Costa also condemned the incident. “Russia’s escalation on EU territory is reckless and irresponsible,” he said in his own social media post.
Costa said he condemned “in the strongest terms this violation of Romania’s national airspace and of international law”. He said the bloc was united in stepping up pressure on Russia and strengthening defence capabilities, “in particular along our eastern border”.
According to Romania’s defence ministry, the drone entered Romanian airspace and was detected by radar to the south of Galați before it crashed into the building. The explosives on board detonated on impact.
The ministry said the strike had coincided with renewed Russian drone attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, close to the river border with Romania.
Romania’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in Bucharest, calling the strike a serious and irresponsible escalation. President Nicușor Dan described it as the most serious incident on Romanian soil since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The incident has come days after a Ukrainian drone is said to have strayed into Estonian airspace by mistake, and after Russian drones prompted Latvia and Lithuania to declare alerts over possible incursions.
On May 26, von der Leyen met the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. She warned that the airspace alerts faced by the Baltic states were not “isolated incidents” but “a deliberate strategy by Russia to destabilise democratic societies” that could spread across Europe.
