Moscow’s drone hits 10-story apartment block in Romania, injuring two as Russia fires 232 UAVs at Ukraine

A Russian attack drone launched at Ukraine crossed into Romania overnight and crashed into a 10-story apartment block in the border city of Galați, the country's Ministry of National Defense reported. The strike set a top-floor apartment on fire, injured two people, and forced an evacuation inside an EU and NATO member state. Romania scrambled fighter jets but held its fire, summoned Russia's ambassador, and pressed its allies for faster anti-drone support. Russia targeted Ukraine with more than 230 drones and injured at least five Ukrainian civilians, according to local officials. 

A drone in a tenth-floor flat

The aircraft entered Romanian airspace and hit the roof of the building in southern Galați, according to the Romanian Defense Ministry. An explosion tore into an apartment on the 10th floor, and a fire broke out. A woman suffered first-degree burns, and a 14-year-old boy had an acute stress reaction, according to Daniela Encu, who heads Galați's regional ambulance service. Both were taken to the hospital. About 70 residents left or were evacuated.

Pyrotechnicians from Romania's intelligence service (SRI) found that all the drone's explosives had detonated, ruling out a second blast. Police investigators and the National Institute of Forensics opened a separate inquiry. 

The ministry spokesman described the drone entering from the direction of Reni at 01:54, descending from 600 meters, then disappearing from radar over southern Galați. Reni sits in Ukraine's Odesa Oblast, just across the border, and monitoring channels had tracked about 16 Shahed-type strike drones heading toward the city before impact.

Jets in the air, no shot fired

Two F-16 fighter jets took off at 01:19 from the 86th Air Base in Fetești, backed by an IAR 330 SOCAT helicopter, the Defense Ministry said. The pilots had clearance to engage targets throughout the alert, and authorities sent RO-Alert warnings to Tulcea, Galați, and Brăila counties. They never fired.

Brigade General Gheorghe Maxim explained that the crews had a four-minute window, which he called extremely short, and that engaging a target needs time to detect, classify, and act. The law also bars Romania from firing in a way that would affect a neighboring country's airspace. 

Its short-range Gepard guns were not in place because peacetime rules require landowners' consent, so the systems are installed only where owners agree.

Romania has scrambled jets over similar incursions many times before, and in early 2025, it authorized its military to defend its airspace during peacetime. 

Second drone crashed in Romania hours earlier

Separately, Romania found a second large drone, with a roughly 3-meter wingspan and no warhead, in Băsești in northwestern Maramureș county, TVR reported late on 28 May during the attack.

Bucharest summons Moscow's ambassador

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu summoned the Russian ambassador and confirmed the drone was of Russian origin. She called the incident a serious and irresponsible escalation and warned of consequences for diplomatic ties. President Nicușor Dan convened the Supreme Council of National Defense and described it as the most serious incident on Romanian territory since the war began. He said the armed forces had orders to shoot the drone down once it was safe, but that the conditions for a safe intercept never existed.

Țoiu also held a call with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and pushed to speed up the next sanctions package, and has pushed allies to fast-track the anti-drone capabilities Bucharest has sought from partners.

Allies condemn the strike

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote that Russia's war had crossed yet another line by striking a densely populated area on EU territory, and said the bloc was preparing a 21st sanctions package. 
• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke with Dan, pledged the alliance's solidarity, and called Russia's behaviour a danger to all. A NATO spokesperson separately condemned Moscow's recklessness. 
• Moldova's Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi condemned the strike and said the war keeps threatening security beyond Ukraine, while European Council President António Costa stressed that the incursion violated international law and deserved the strongest condemnation.

2025

Russia’s drones violated the airspace of Moldova and Romania — one fell straight onto a civilian roof (MAP)

Context: Russia's nighttime attack on Ukraine

The Galați drone was one piece of a broader overnight assault. Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russia launched a ballistic missile from Kursk Oblast and 232 strike drones, including Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas, and Parodiya decoys, from several Russian regions and occupied Crimea. Air defense downed or suppressed 217 of them by 08:30, while the missile and 14 drones hit 14 locations.

• In Ukraine's Izmail district — just across the Danube from Romania's Galați, a drone got tangled in power lines near Nahirne, cutting electricity to five villages and about 4,000 customers across southern Odesa Oblast, local authorities said. 
• In Zaporizhzhia, the attack damaged four apartment buildings and wounded two women, the head of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, Ivan Fedorov, confirmed. 
• A Russian Geran drone burned down a village school in Masheve, Chernihiv Oblast, with no casualties, the head of the Novhorod-Siverskyi district administration, Oleksandr Seliverstov, reported. 
• A morning drone strike on Kherson's Korabelnyi district wounded three men aged 38 to 65, the city military administration said.
• Russia also struck Poltava district on the evening of 28 May without casualties, the Poltava administration noted.