Nato has confirmed that a drone which crashed into an apartment block in Romania during an overnight Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine was of Russian origin. The incident, which injured two people, has been described by Romanian President Nicușor Dan as the most serious such event on Romanian soil since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Speaking through a spokesperson for Nato's military headquarters SHAPE, the alliance rejected denials from Moscow, including from President Vladimir Putin, who suggested the drone could have been Ukrainian. Putin proposed that the wreckage be handed over to Russia for an independent investigation.
In response, Romania declared a Russian consul in the southeastern city of Constanța persona non grata, prompting threats of retaliation from Moscow. Nato allies have offered to temporarily relocate air defence equipment to Romania to help it deal with similar incidents as it builds up its own drone defence capacity.
The incident comes amid warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of a possible new massive Russian attack in the coming days. Romania and Ukraine have agreed to accelerate co-production of drones to help defend Nato's eastern flank.
Separately, the European Union has agreed to release more than €16 billion to Hungary that had been frozen over rule-of-law concerns. The decision follows a political deal between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who won a landslide election last month on a promise to unlock the funds. Budapest must complete all agreed reforms by 31 August for the money to be paid out.
