Russian drone strike wounds two in Galați

A Russian drone hit an apartment block in Galați, Romania, on 29 May, injuring two civilians. It was the first Russian weapon to wound people on NATO territory since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All 32 allies condemned the strike. After that, unity thinned out quickly.

Washington Names Everything Except Russia

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was blunt: "Russia's reckless behaviour is a danger to us all." France said Russia had "targeted a friendly country." Britain called it "a serious violation of NATO airspace".

Washington chose its words with more care. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, condemned the "reckless incursion" and promised to "defend every inch of NATO territory", but did not name Russia. Under the Trump administration, saying plainly that Russia struck allied soil would carry treaty implications that Washington seems determined to keep blurred.

The timing made the omission harder to dismiss. Two weeks earlier, the Pentagon cancelled a 4,000-troop armoured brigade rotation to Poland and ordered 5,000 troops out of Germany, bringing US forces in Europe back to pre-2022 levels. A day after Galați, Defense Secretary Hegseth told the Shangri-La Dialogue that Europeans had "hollowed out their militaries" and warned that the era of US subsidies was over.

That is the contradiction Europe now has to manage. Washington is demanding a stronger European defence posture while reducing the American presence that has underwritten it. For Malta, formally outside NATO but inside the EU security conversation, this matters because the gap between NATO decisions and EU consequences is no longer theoretical.

The Spillover Precedent

Romania classified the strike as spillover from the war, rather than a deliberate attack on Romanian territory (Le Monde, Eurointegration). Legally, that is a rational position. Politically, it creates its own momentum. Each incident treated as spillover raises the bar for the next one.

Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said the strike "falls into the category" that could justify Article 4. That article allows any NATO ally to force collective consultations when it believes its security is threatened. She stopped short of invoking it.

Bucharest instead expelled Russia's consul from Constanța and summoned Moscow's ambassador, its sharpest diplomatic response since 2022. Article 4 remains available as leverage ahead of the Ankara Summit in July. Romania is keeping the heavier card on the table, rather than playing it immediately.

An Eastern Flank in Motion

Italy was the only ally to send hardware: around 100 soldiers and combat aircraft to Romania's Mihail Kogălniceanu base. PM Meloni called the strike "gravissimo". Germany's Chancellor Merz called for "a strong NATO presence on the eastern flank", but did not propose specific deployments. His defence ministry, at the same time, described the incident as "no change in situation."

Hungary moved in the opposite direction from its recent past. Its new PM, Magyar Péter, who replaced Viktor Orbán after April elections, said that "Europe and NATO unity is more important now than ever." Orbán, now leading 44 opposition seats, demanded that the new government maintain his "neutrality policy." Hungary's shift from blocking collective action to backing solidarity removes the eastern flank's most predictable obstacle.

Slovakia showed the opposite strain. President Pellegrini called the strike "a dangerous precedent" and said stronger borders were needed. PM Fico urged "restraint from strong statements" and called for dialogue with Moscow. Even his own foreign minister issued a sharper condemnation.

The Ankara summit now has to settle a practical question: will NATO authorise standing rules for shooting down drones over allied territory, or will every incident still depend on a national decision taken in the moment? The ISW assesses that Putin "accepts the risk of inflicting civilian casualties in NATO states" as an acceptable cost. Former President Medvedev replied that "they have not seen anything yet", a signal that Moscow is watching NATO's behaviour more closely than its statements.

Romania's air force tracked the Galați drone throughout its flight. Pilots had weapons-release authority. Over a city of 230,000 people, they could not fire without risking worse casualties than the drone itself might cause.

That is the gap condemnations cannot close. Detection is no longer enough. The alliance needs to decide who can shoot, when they can shoot, and under whose authority. So far, no ally has wanted to own that decision.