Romania says drone hit Galați apartment building, injuring two — Roumanie

Roumanie said a Russian drone entered its airspace and hit an apartment building in Galați on the night of 28 to 29 May, setting off a fire and leaving two occupants with light injuries. The Ministry of Defense said the drone was tracked to the southern part of the city near the border with Ukraine.

The two people inside the struck apartment evacuated the building on their own and received medical care on site for scrapes. Romania described the impact as the first time a drone has landed on a residential building since the start of Russia’s offensive in February 2022.

F-16 fighters from Fetesti

Two F-16 fighters took off from Fetesti air base in eastern Romania after drones were detected near Romanian airspace. The aircraft were authorized to engage the targets for the duration of the alert, according to the Ministry of Defense.

The ministry said Russia resumed drone attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure in Ukraine near the river border with Romania during the same overnight period. An air alert was triggered in Ukraine overnight from Thursday to Friday in anticipation of new Russian raids.

Galați after the impact

Romanian rescue services said the drone’s entire payload exploded when it struck the roof of the apartment building. That sequence left a residential building damaged in a city close to the Ukrainian border, with the two injured occupants treated where they stood after getting out safely on their own.

Drone incursions into Romania have been detected several times since February 2022, but Romania said this was the first one to land on a residential building. The next step for residents in and around Galați is to watch how Romanian authorities handle air defense alerts and damage assessment after an incident that crossed from border monitoring into a struck home.