{"id":991839,"date":"2026-05-29T08:19:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/991839\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T08:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:19:27","slug":"nato-states-slam-russia-after-drone-crashes-in-romania-antonio-guterres-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/991839\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO states slam Russia after drone crashes in Romania | Antonio Guterres News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romania and its NATO allies have reacted angrily after a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in eastern Romania<\/a>, injuring two people.<\/p>\n

The foreign ministry in Bucharest on Friday labelled the crash of the drone, part of an overnight attack aimed at Ukraine, a serious violation of international law and called on NATO to accelerate the transfer of anti-drone capabilities. The incident is just the latest incursion along the alliance\u2019s eastern flank, raising concern that the risk of an open confrontation between Russia and NATO states is rising.<\/p>\n

Romania said the overnight drone was tracked by radar in its airspace before crashing onto the roof of a residential building in the city of Galati.<\/p>\n

Two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter were scrambled, as authorities issued emergency alerts to residents. Two people suffered minor injuries and several residents were evacuated after a fire was triggered by the crash.<\/p>\n

\u2018Consequences\u2019<\/p>\n

The incident is just the latest of several, as the war in Ukraine has spilled over into neighbouring NATO countries, raising fears of potential escalation.<\/p>\n

Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Finland<\/a>\u00a0have all reported repeated incursions into their airspace in recent months. Drone incursions sparked a government collapse<\/a> in Latvia earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the crash, Bucharest called for\u00a0NATO to speed up the transfer of anti-drone capabilities. Outgoing Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan also said that Romania would, within hours, sign \u2060a contract which \u2060will give it anti-drone defences \u200cunder the EU\u2019S SAFE programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Friday morning, Romania summoned the Russia ambassador.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will officially communicate the consequences that this lack of responsibility on the part of the Russian Federation will have for the diplomatic relations between our countries, as well as the next steps at the European level regarding sanctions packages,\u201d Foreign Minister Oana Toiu wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

President Nicusor Dan stated that Romania \u2060will \u2060not accept that the war of aggression \u2060waged by Russia against \u2060Ukraine be transferred to its citizens, and added that he had asked the foreign ministry \u2060to present without delay \u2060a series \u2060of measures regarding the country\u2019s relationship with Russia, \u201cproportionate to \u200cthis very serious situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

NATO allies and others joined the chorus of anger.<\/p>\n

French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said the incident highlighted the threat Russia poses to European security, noting that French troops are stationed in Romania.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of \u2060whether it was on purpose \u2060or the \u2060result \u2060of ineptitude, Russia is still dangerous and \u200cwe must defend ourselves against \u200cit,\u201d \u200cPolish \u2060Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told \u2060the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the incident showed that \u201cRussia\u2019s war of aggression has crossed yet another line\u201d.<\/p>\n

A NATO spokesperson also condemned \u201cRussia\u2019s recklessness\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, whose country is pressing the United States to help boost its air defences, pledged \u201cUkraine stands firmly by Romania\u201d as he branded Russia a threat to the Black Sea region and the wider \u200cEuropean continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are ready \u2060to work closely together \u2060to strengthen protection from such threats,\u201d he wrote on social media, adding that the bid to \u2060strengthen Ukraine\u2019s \u2060air defence is a \u201cstrategic task\u201d to protect not only \u200cUkraine but also to reduce risks for \u200cneighbouring \u200ccountries.<\/p>\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the escalating attacks risk spiralling \u201cout of control\u201d, with \u201cunknown and unintended consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said more civilians had been killed in the first four months of this year than during the same period in the previous three years, and called for diplomacy, immediate de-escalation and \u201ca full and unconditional ceasefire\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rising risk<\/p>\n

Concern that the war is threatening to spillover is building as Russia escalates hostilities in a bid to ward off rising political and economic pressure at home.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian forces reported that they shot down 217 drones overnight on Friday. Russia attacked with 232 drones and one ballistic missile. Hits were recorded in 14 areas, the air force said.<\/p>\n

Moscow has said it plans \u201csystematic strikes\u201d<\/a> on Kyiv and has issued a barrage of threats at Ukraine\u2019s European allies, listing facilities in Europe that it said are involved in manufacturing drones and components for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Moscow\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service recently warned the Baltic nations that their NATO membership won\u2019t protect them from retaliation should they allow Ukraine to launch attacks from their territory, with analysts warning that the risk of an open confrontation between Russia and NATO states is rising.<\/p>\n

That heightens concern regarding NATO\u2019s Article 5 collective defence clause, which President Donald Trump has hinted the United States may not honour in some cases.<\/p>\n

However, the alliance\u2019s Secretary General Mark Rutte insisted on Friday that NATO will defend all of its territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia\u2019s reckless behaviour is a danger to us all,\u201d he wrote on social media. \u201cLast \u2060night showed yet again \u2060that the implications of their illegal war of aggression don\u2019t \u2060stop at the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will \u2060continue to strengthen \u2060our deterrence and defence at home and continue our support for \u200cUkraine as they defend against Russia\u2019s aggression,\u201d he \u200cadded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Romania and its NATO allies have reacted angrily after a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":991840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7655],"tags":[89205,32302,1112,299,36,1113,1114,2597,2821,12,1438,332,7661,657],"class_list":["post-991839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-russia","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-drone-strikes","tag-estonia","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-latvia","tag-lithuania","tag-military","tag-nato","tag-news","tag-romania","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-ukraine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116656889454447748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/991840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}