The Romanian defence ministry said it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a military helicopter to monitor a drone attack on a building, adding that the pilots were authorised to shoot down any drones.
It said a Russian drone crashed onto the roof of a 10-storey block of flats in the southeastern city of Galati during a Russian overnight attack on neighbouring Ukraine, causing an explosion and a fire that injured two people.
After a Russian drone struck an apartment building in the Nato member state of Romania, the western military alliance condemned Moscow’s “recklessness”.
Whether the strike could prompt any further action from Nato is unclear – but it is unlikely to trigger a military response.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an armed attack against one Nato member will be considered an attack against them all, and triggers an obligation for each member to come to its assistance.
The pledge is designed to create a protective umbrella around Nato states and warn hostile states against launching attacks.
But Moscow has been poking and probing at the alliance in the past year, with repeated drone incursions into Nato countries – but without launching any full-scale attacks.
Whether the strike in Romania can be deemed as an ‘attack’ is also unclear. It could be that the drone in question had its GPS signal jammed – a common air defence tactic – while it was heading for a target in Ukraine.
Article 5 has only been invoked once in the history of Nato – after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the US in 2001.
Russian ambassadors summoned over Romanian drone incident
Romania has summoned Russia’s ambassador on Friday, foreign minister Oana-Silvia Țoiu has said, after a Russian drone injured two people during an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine.
French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot also said that he had summoned Russia’s ambassador after the strike on Galati in the country’s southeast.
Russian drone was in Romanian airspace for four minutes, says general
We’ve just heard from Romanian Brigadier General Gheorghe Maxim, who said the Russian drone was in Romania for four minutes before crashing.
Radar and land anti-air defences were moved near Galati after a drone incident in April, he says.
But Merops, a US anti-drone system used by Romania, would have been to risky to use in a city, he adds – although he said it remains operational.
It was the first time in the war that a drone had hit a densely populated area in Romania and caused injuries
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