Lithuanian president condemns Russian drone strike on Romanian apartment block

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has strongly condemned a Russian drone attack on a residential building in the Romanian city of Galați, calling it a “blatant violation” of international law, LRT reports.

“I strongly condemn the heinous Russian drone attack against an apartment building in the Romanian city of Galați,” Nausėda wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday. “This is a blatant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania and the basic principles of international law.”

The president emphasised that Russia must “bear full responsibility for the consequences of its aggressive war against Ukraine,” adding that the strike was an “obvious breach” of Romania’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Romania’s defence ministry confirmed the attack, stating that a Russian drone struck the multi-storey building in Galați, a city near the Ukrainian border, injuring two people. Emergency response teams, including the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, interior ministry officials, intelligence services, and police, are operating at the scene.

Radar systems detected additional drones flying near Romanian airspace, prompting the National Military Command Centre to activate civil defence measures. Residents in Tulcea, Galați, and Brăila counties received RO-Alert emergency warnings.

Two Romanian F-16 fighter jets and an IAR 330 SOCAT military helicopter were scrambled from the 86th Air Base in Fetești at 1:19 AM to intercept the drone. Pilots were authorised to engage targets throughout the threat period. According to the AGERPRES news agency, around 70 people either fled or were evacuated from the damaged building.

Investigators from Romania’s intelligence service determined that all of the drone’s explosives detonated upon impact. While drone incursions into Romanian airspace have been detected repeatedly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, this marks the first confirmed strike on a residential building.

The attack follows renewed Russian drone strikes on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine near the Romanian border overnight on May 29.