Russian Drone Hits a Romanian Apartment Block, Prompting Expulsion of a Consul

A drone struck an apartment building in Galati, in southeastern Romania, in what officials in Bucharest called a grave and irresponsible escalation by Russia, Deutsche Welle reported. Romania is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the alliance condemned what it called Russia's recklessness, according to The New York Times.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan said the country would expel the Russian consul in the city of Constanta. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the episode showed the need for a strong NATO presence on the alliance's eastern flank.

Moscow rejected the accusation. The Russian embassy in Romania said Kyiv staged the incident as a provocation intended to draw NATO into direct conflict with Russia, according to Russian state media. The competing accounts cannot both be true, and the danger for markets lies in the ambiguity. An incident on alliance territory, whatever its origin, narrows the distance between the war in Ukraine and a direct confrontation that would carry far larger economic consequences.