On Friday, a drone crashed into the top floor of an apartment complex in Galați, a port city in eastern Romania near the Danube River and the Ukrainian border. Two civilians were injured by the collision of the unmanned aerial aircraft, with the roof of the apartment building set alight.
The country’s president Nicușor Dan firmly pointed the finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin. Romania's Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu confirmed the drone was Russian and laden with explosives.
Kayoko Gotoh, co-director of the United Nations’ political and peace departments, said the incident crystallised repeated warnings from political leaders across Europe that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is spilling beyond its borders, now with casualties.
A flurry of support for Bucharest poured in following the incident, including remarks of solidarity from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, among others.
Amid this, former Russian President and current Deputy Chair of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, issued his own stark warning. “Be vigilant and don't be surprised by anything. The peaceful sleep is over,” a post on social media platform X reads.
