Multiple injured after Russian drone smashes into block of flats in Romania - Nato scrambles fighter jets

Two people have been injured as a result of the drone attack - one of them very seriously.

Both people, a woman and a 14-year-old boy, are now receiving medical care and will be transported to the hospital.

The crash was announced through a Ro-Alert emergency message in the early hours of this morning.

The origins of the drone were initially unclear - but Romania's Defence Ministry confirmed Russia was behind the strike.

A statement confirmed one of Vladimir Putin's vehicles entered Romanian airspace and crashed onto the block's roof.

"During the night of May 28 to 29, the Russian Federation resumed drone attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, in the vicinity of the river border with Romania," it said.

"One of these drones entered Romanian airspace, being tracked by radar to the southern area of the city of Galati, and crashed onto the roof of a block of flats, the impact being followed by a fire.

"Two F-16 aircraft in the Air Police combat service took off at 1.19am. from Air Base 86 in Fetești, supported by an IAR 330 SOCAT helicopter of the Romanian Air Force.

"Pilots had authorisation to engage targets throughout the alert."

The woman received first-degree burns, and the boy suffered a panic attack, according to Galati's newspaper Viata Libera.

Around 70 people were evacuated from the building after the crash.

Police, ambulance, and SMURD - Romania's supplementary emergency service - were sent to the scene.

Explosives experts from the Criminal Investigation Department and the National Institute of Forensic Science were also sent to the scene to investigate the incident.

Specialists believe the entire explosive charge within the drone detonated, meaning there was no need for further evacuations.

Galati police confirmed the incident to local media and said: "A short time ago, in the municipality of Galati, a drone crashed into a block of flats, the impact being followed by an explosion and the outbreak of a fire in an apartment located on the 10th floor.

"Forces and police are intervening on the scene to limit the effects of the incident and secure the area, supported by other MIA forces and specialized SRI teams.

"Two people who were in the burnt apartment self-evacuated."

Earlier on Thursday, another drone crashed into the Romanian town of Baseti, Maramures County.

Authorities quickly intervened and secured the area, with an urgent investigation to establish the origin of the drone launched.

The mayor of Baseti told Romanian media the drone was large and had a "wingspan of about three metres".

These two incidents are just the most recent in a series of drone attacks which have been condemned by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Standing alongside leaders from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, she said: "This is a deliberate strategy from Russia trying to destabilise our democratic societies.

"When Baltic states are being tested, Europe as a whole is being tested."

Just last week, Lithuania was sent into a widespread panic after a drone entered the country's airspace.

The incident marked the first a Nato member state instructed civilians to seek shelter because of drones, as an alert was issued in Vilnius's Parliament building, which sent MPs and ministers into bunkers.

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said: "The Nato Air Policing Mission is activated and targeting a drone detected in Lithuanian airspace."

The drone was unable to be found by Nato forces and it is unknown whether it crashed or had left Lithuania.

The Lithuania drone scare was just one day after Estonia said Romanian fighter jets had shot down a drone over its territory, which it suspected was a Ukrainian rocket knocked off course by Russia.

And earlier this month, two Ukrainian drones struck an oil storage site in Latvia because of Russian electronic interference.

Moscow has accused the Baltic states of allowing Ukraine to use their "air corridors" to strike targets inside Russia, a claim denied by Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.