BUCHAREST – Romania declared Russia’s consul general in the Black Sea port of Constanta persona non grata on Friday and ordered the consulate shut, the sharpest diplomatic blow Bucharest has dealt Moscow since the war in Ukraine began, after a Russian drone slammed into a residential tower in the eastern city of Galati and injured two people.
President Nicusor Dan announced the measures after an emergency session of the Supreme Council of National Defence at Cotroceni Palace. He placed blame squarely on Moscow for the overnight strike, which he described as the most serious security incident on Romanian soil since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
Dan told reporters, “The entire responsibility for this incident lies with Russia,” calling the strike a consequence of a war of aggression that Romania would not allow to bleed onto its own citizens. He said the consul general had been expelled and the Constanta mission would close.
The drone, identified by Romania’s Defence Ministry as a Russian-made Geran-2, the locally produced version of the Iranian Shahed, crashed onto the roof of a ten-story apartment block in Galati shortly after 2 a.m., touching off an explosion and a fire on the upper floors. Two residents were hospitalized and about 70 people were evacuated from the building. Agence France-Presse reported that the injured were a 14-year-old boy and a 53-year-old woman.
Romanian commanders said the aircraft was one of a swarm of 43 drones that Russia launched overnight at Ukrainian targets near the Danube, with a single drone peeling off into Romanian airspace. Brigadier General Gheorghe Maxim told a news conference the drone spent roughly four minutes over Romanian territory, flying low enough to complicate radar tracking. Two F-16 fighter jets and a military helicopter were scrambled with authorization to fire, but the pilots held off over the risk of debris raining onto a crowded neighborhood.
The crash marked the first time during the war that a Russian drone had struck a densely populated area inside a NATO and European Union member state and caused injuries. Romania, which shares a 650 kilometer border with Ukraine, says Russian drones have violated its airspace 28 times since 2022, most of them debris falling in remote stretches near the Danube ports that Moscow bombards almost nightly.
Moscow promised to hit back. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state news agency RIA Novosti that retaliatory measures over the expulsion “will not be long in coming,” dismissing the Western reaction as a fuss. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the incident but stopped short of confirming that the drone belonged to the Russian military. Romania’s Foreign Ministry separately summoned the Russian ambassador in Bucharest.
NATO closed ranks around Bucharest. Secretary General Mark Rutte, who spoke with Dan by phone, wrote on social media that Russia’s reckless behavior was a danger to everyone and that the alliance stood ready to defend every inch of its territory. The alliance’s top commander, US General Alexus Grynkewich, spoke with Romania’s military chief and agreed to stay in close contact as the investigation proceeds, Al Jazeera reported. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, said allied forces would defend every inch of NATO ground.
The European Union matched the condemnation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia’s war of aggression had “crossed yet another line” by striking a populated area on EU soil, and said Brussels was readying a 21st package of sanctions against Moscow, Euronews reported. European Council President Antonio Costa called the escalation reckless and irresponsible.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drone had been part of a deliberate Russian strike on the Odesa region across the border and offered to help Romania harden its defenses, while pressing allies for tougher sanctions. Moldovan President Maia Sandu, whose country sits between Romania and Ukraine and has logged its own incursions, said Russia was a danger to all.
The strike landed amid mounting anxiety along NATO’s eastern flank, where the war has repeatedly spilled across borders. Allied jets have scrambled to chase Russian drones over Poland, and drone fallout helped topple Latvia’s coalition government earlier this month. The episode has also sharpened a debate inside the alliance over its Article 4 consultations and Article 5 commitments.
Dan said Romania was racing to close the gaps in its air defenses. Anti-air and anti-drone systems are being procured through the EU’s SAFE defense program, he said, with contracts expected within days. Romania has also signed a drone co-production agreement with Ukraine and joined a separate effort with the United States and Britain to speed up counter-drone technology. Until the new equipment arrives, he said, Romania would rely on allied capabilities deployed on its soil.
Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said the drone’s flight was a serious violation of international law and that the crash met the threshold for invoking Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which lets members demand consultations when their security is threatened. She said Bucharest would set out the consequences for its relationship with Moscow and push for action at the European level.
The president did not name the expelled diplomat, though Romania’s Foreign Ministry lists Russia’s consul general in Constanta as Andrey Kosilin, who took the post in early 2023. Galati, a Danube port about ten kilometers from the point where Romania, Moldova and Ukraine meet, had seen drone debris before, including a crash in April, but never casualties. For Dan, that line had now been crossed. He said Romanians could see clearly who stood with the West and who only pretended to.
—Inputs from Sputnik.
