What did stray drones do to Europe's border states?

What did spillover from the war in Ukraine look like for its neighbours by 30 May 2026? Two reports from the preceding days gave a sense of it, one in Romania and one in Latvia.

On 29 May 2026, a Russian drone entered Romanian airspace during an attack on Ukraine and crashed into an apartment building in Galați. The impact caused a fire and injured two people. It was listed among violations of non-combatant airspace during the Russo-Ukrainian war and fed into the wider picture of Russia–NATO relations.

A day earlier, on 28 May 2026, the Latvian Saeima approved a four-party coalition government led by prime minister Andris Kulbergs. It replaced the administration of Evika Siliņa, which had collapsed after disputes over how to handle suspected Ukrainian drones entering Latvian airspace.

The two episodes differed in kind: in one, a Russian drone caused damage and injuries on NATO territory; in the other, the handling of suspected Ukrainian drones brought down a government. Both showed airspace incidents tied to the war reaching the domestic affairs of states that were not fighting it.