War in Ukraine: Romania claims that a Russian drone hit a residential building on its territory and denounces "irresponsible escalation"

Drone incursions in Romania have been detected several times since the start of the Russian offensive against neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, but this is the first time that one of these devices has fallen on a civilian building. The Defense Ministry of Romania, a NATO member country, said on Friday May 29 that a Russian drone had hit a residential building on its territory and caused two minor injuries in the town of Galati, near the border with Ukraine. He denounced a “serious and irresponsible escalation”.

“On the night of May 28-29, the Russian Federation resumed drone attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure in Ukraine, near the river border with Romaniawrote the ministry in a press release. One of these drones entered Romanian airspace, was tracked by radar to the southern part of the city of Galati, and then crashed into the roof of an apartment building, causing a fire upon impact.”

When the drones were detected near Romanian airspace, two F-16 fighters took off from the Fetesti air base in eastern Romania and were “authorized to engage in combat with targets for the duration of the alert”he added. According to the Romanian emergency services, the drone’s entire charge exploded and the two occupants of the affected apartment, who were able to evacuate the building by their own means, were treated on site for abrasions.

A national air alert was triggered in Ukraine during the night from Thursday to Friday in anticipation of new Russian raids, before being lifted a few hours later. At least two people were injured in Zaporizhia, in the south of the country, during a fire sparked by an attack, according to regional authorities.

For several days, Russia has been threatening an escalation in its attacks on Ukraine, in revenge for a Ukrainian strike that killed, according to Moscow, 21 people in a high school in occupied Ukrainian territory. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Kremlin launched a particularly devastating bombardment against the country, using more than 600 drones, around 35 ballistic missiles and around fifty cruise missiles.

Following this massive raid, one of the worst since the start of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky implored the United States to provide his country with more missiles for its Patriot air defense systems, the only ones capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.