Nicușor Dan said Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities across the Danube must not endanger Romanian citizens, after a Russian Geran-2 drone struck an apartment block in Galați.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan has said Russia must ensure its attacks on Ukrainian cities across the Danube do not harm Romanian citizens, in remarks that have drawn attention to the mounting security pressure on NATO’s south-eastern flank.
Speaking to the BBC’s Weekend programme, Dan acknowledged that drone incidents linked to Russia’s war against Ukraine have become an increasingly serious threat for Romania. His comments followed the crash of a Russian Geran-2 drone into an apartment building in the eastern Romanian city of Galați on 29 May, injuring two people and prompting renewed questions about how NATO members bordering Ukraine should respond to repeated airspace violations.
“We have had, over the last two years, probably 20 or 30 drone incidents,” Dan said, according to European Pravda. “At the beginning they did not have explosives. About a month ago there was another one, with explosives, which fortunately did not explode.”
He added: “This is becoming a threat to Romanian citizens. So when the Russians strike cities on the other side of the Danube, they have to make sure they do not harm Romanian citizens.”
The statement was notable not because it represented a change in Romania’s formal position on the war, but because of the way it framed the immediate security problem. Rather than calling in that sentence for Russia to halt attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas, Dan focused on the risk that such attacks pose to Romanians living close to the border.
The distinction is politically sensitive. Romania has been one of Ukraine’s important neighbours since the start of the full-scale invasion, providing logistical support, facilitating grain exports through the Danube corridor, and backing EU and NATO measures in response to Russian aggression. At the same time, Bucharest has had to manage the practical consequences of Russian strikes on Ukrainian ports and infrastructure in the Odesa region, including Izmail and Reni, which lie close to Romanian territory.
The Galați incident brought those risks into sharper focus. Romania’s National Defence Ministry said that the entire payload of the Russian-provenance Geran-2 drone exploded on impact after striking the residential building. The crash caused a fire in a flat on the tenth floor, led to the evacuation of around 70 residents, and sent two injured people to hospital.
The incident also revived debate over NATO’s rules of engagement. Romanian and allied forces have monitored Russian drone activity near the border, and Romania has previously scrambled aircraft during attacks on Ukrainian targets close to its territory. However, interception over populated areas carries its own risks, particularly when drones may fall onto civilian districts after being hit.
NATO condemned Russia’s actions after the Galați strike, saying that an apartment building in Romania had been hit as Russia attacked Ukrainian infrastructure near the border. The Alliance said it would continue to strengthen its defences, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia had “crossed yet another line” by striking a densely populated area on EU territory.
For NATO, the problem is wider than Romania alone. Russian drones and fragments have repeatedly crossed or fallen near the territory of allied states bordering Ukraine, including Romania and Poland. Each incident tests the boundary between defensive caution and deterrence. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty has not been invoked over such incidents, but they increase pressure on allied governments to demonstrate that NATO airspace is protected.
Dan’s remarks also underline an uncomfortable reality for countries on Ukraine’s western and south-western borders. Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian territory are not confined in their consequences to Ukraine. The Danube region is a shared security space, where Ukrainian ports, Romanian towns, shipping routes, air-defence calculations and NATO commitments are closely connected.
For Ukraine, the Romanian president’s phrasing is likely to be read against the background of continuing Russian attacks on civilian areas. Kyiv has repeatedly argued that Western security cannot be separated from Ukraine’s air defence, particularly in border regions where Russian drones and missiles can threaten both Ukrainian and NATO territory.
For Romania, the priority is to prevent further harm to its citizens without being drawn into direct military confrontation with Russia. That balance has become harder to sustain as drone incidents have moved from debris falling in rural areas to an explosive drone hitting an apartment block in a NATO member state.
Dan did not rule out stronger diplomatic steps if further incidents occur. In the same BBC interview, he said the possible expulsion of the Russian ambassador was not excluded if further Russian drone incidents affect Romanian territory.
The episode is therefore more than a dispute over one phrase in a broadcast interview. It reflects the growing strain on NATO states that border Ukraine and must respond to Russian military activity without allowing Moscow to normalise risk to allied territory.
The Romanian president’s comments may have been intended as a warning that Russian attacks must not endanger Romania. Yet they also exposed the difficulty of drawing a clean line between Russia’s war against Ukraine and the security of NATO countries living beside it.
