Ukraine-Russia war latest: Nato condemns Moscow’s ‘recklessness’ after drone hits Romanian apartment building

Nato has accused Russia of “recklessness” after a drone crashed onto the roof of a block of flats in Romania.

The military alliance said it would strengthen its defences against all threats after the strike on the southeastern Romanian city of Galati, which came during a Russian overnight attack on neighbouring Ukraine.

“We condemn Russia’s recklessness, and Nato will continue to strengthen our defences against all threats, including drones,” a Nato spokesperson said in a post on X.

European ​Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on ⁠Friday Russia had “crossed yet another line” after one of ⁠its drones ​hit ⁠a densely populated area ⁠in Romania and injured ​civilians ⁠during an ‌overnight attack in neighbouring Ukraine.

“We stand in ‌full solidarity ‌with Romania and its people,” von ⁠der Leyen said in a post on X. “As we continue strengthening our security and deterrence, ‌especially on our ​eastern border, we ‌will keep ⁠increasing the ⁠pressure on Russia.”

French ​minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said on Friday that an incident involving a ⁠Russian drone in Romania showed that Russia was a threat to European security.

A drone ⁠crashed onto ​the ⁠roof of a 10-storey block of flats in ⁠the southeastern Romanian city ​of ⁠Galati during a ‌Russian overnight attack on neighbouring Ukraine.

“Russia has not only ‌attacked Ukraine, but also ‌threatened the European security architecture. A Russian drone crashed in Romania ⁠again last night, posing a threat through its interference,” Haddad told French radio RMC.

“I would also like to point out that we ‌have French troops stationed in ​Romania as part ‌of Nato’s ⁠reassurance operations, specifically to demonstrate ⁠our support for the sovereignty ‌of our partners ​in Europe,” ‌he added.

The Romanian ministry of foreign affairs ⁠said on Friday that an incident ⁠involving ​a Russian ⁠drone that struck ⁠an apartment ​building ⁠in a ‌Romanian city is a “grave and ‌irresponsible escalation from ‌Russia”.

“Romania has informed ⁠allies and Nato’s secretary general about the circumstances and requested measures to ‌accelerate the transfer ​of ‌anti-drone capabilities ⁠to Romania,” ⁠the ministry said.

A Russian drone struck a 10-storey building in Galati, eastern Romania, injuring two people and sparking evacuations.

Fuel storage facilities caught fire following a ⁠Ukraine drone attack in Russia’s Yaroslavl ⁠region, northeast ​of Moscow, ⁠governor Mikhail Yevrayev ⁠said on ​Telegram, adding ⁠that work ‌to extinguish the fire ‌was ongoing.

Overall, Russia ‌downed 208 drones ⁠overnight, Interfax said, citing the defence ministry.

Of those, over 80 were shot ‌down ​in Russia’s southern ‌Rostov ⁠region, local ⁠authorities said.

Russia carried out a drone strike on a Turkish vessel overnight, Ukraine has claimed, amid escalating attacks in the Black Sea region.

Details about the extent of the damage or possible casualties were not immediately clear.

The incident comes as Russia intensifies drone and missile strikes targeting Ukrainian infrastructure and ports.

A Russian drone involved in an overnight attack on Ukraine crashed into a residential building in Galati, eastern Romania.

The drone struck the roof of the apartment block, triggering a fire. Two people suffered minor injuries.

Several residents were evacuated from the building

Romania scrambled F-16 fighter jets and a military helicopter after detecting the drone in its airspace.

Deputy interior minister Raed Arafat, who is in charge of the emergency response agency, told private broadcaster Digi24 the drone affected two building stairwells and damaged five cars.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant suffered a prolonged communications blackout this week amid reports of increased military activity nearby, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on 28 May.

The plant lost both landline and internet connections for around 12 hours on 27 May, marking the longest such outage at the facility since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the IAEA.

The cause of the outage was not immediately clear, but it coincided with reported attacks on the nearby Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar, where most plant employees live.

“For many hours, we were unable to contact our team of experts at the site, and the plant was unable to communicate with the outside world in the usual way,” Grossi said.

“This was clearly a very concerning event in terms of nuclear safety and security. The IAEA team will continue to investigate what caused this communications blackout and discuss how to prevent a recurrence,” he added.

The communications outage violated one of the seven core principles for maintaining nuclear safety during wartime established by Grossi and the IAEA, which states that nuclear facilities must maintain reliable communication with regulators and external authorities.

The IAEA said earlier this month that it had observed a significant increase in drone activity near several Ukrainian nuclear power plants. While agency teams reported no direct damage to the facilities, they warned that the activity posed “significant risks to nuclear safety and security”.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Europe’s largest nuclear facility and one of the 10 largest in the world. It has been under Russian military occupation since 2022, along with large parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

The US leveled unusually harsh criticism against Russia and called for it to refrain from its promised “systematic strikes” against Kyiv, but Moscow brushed off the appeal and reiterated a warning to foreign diplomats to ⁠leave the Ukrainian capital.

The statements came during a US Security Council session requested by Ukraine in response to Russia’s bombardment by hundreds of drones and missiles on Sunday against Kyiv and nearby areas.

Condemning Sunday’s barrage, Tammy Bruce, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, ⁠called Russia’s use of its Oreshnik hypersonic missile “an inexplicable, dangerous and barbaric escalation” of ​the ⁠war that erupted with Russia’s full-scale ‌invasion in February 2022.

“We caution Russia not to mount so-called systematic strikes against Kyiv, which risk further civilian casualties and setting back the prospect ‌of peace,” said Bruce.

At least two civilians ‌died and around 100 were injured in the bombardment that Moscow said was in response to a Ukrainian strike on a student dorm in Donetsk, the eastern region of the same ⁠name that Moscow-backed separatists seized in 2014.

She did not say how the US would respond if Moscow carried out its threat of “systemic strikes.”

Romania, a member of both Nato and the European Union, shares a 650km (400 mile) land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones breach its airspace 28 times since Moscow began attacking Kyiv’s ports across the Danube river, Romania’s defence ministry said on Friday.

Friday’s incident was the first time a drone had hit a densely populated area in Romania ⁠and caused injuries, and was likely to increase tensions on Nato’s ​eastern ⁠flank at a time when Ukraine’s allies are worried about the war spilling over its borders.

The ministry added it had recovered drone fragments that fell in Romania 47 times.