Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is The Guardian.
Deliberately or not, the war is bleeding over the borders into NATO and to other parts of Europe. This is a spine stiffening exercise. The air war has got ever more intense. There's a very, very strong desire to remind Russia what kind of perilous territory that this is tilting towards.
Chapter 2: What recent event escalated tensions between Russia and NATO?
NATO says it's ready to defend every inch of its territory as a Russian drone hits an apartment building in Romania. From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hough. Peter Beaumont, our senior international correspondent. Peter, we're talking in light of an attack by a Russian drone on Romanian territory on an apartment block that feels like quite a major escalation.
What happened when this drone entered Romanian territory?
What seems to have happened is that last night there was another fairly major Russian attack on Ukraine. And during this attack, one of the Russian drones crossed into Romania and hit the roof of an apartment block in a city called Galati, which is quite close to the Ukrainian border. I mean, it's not far from the Danube.
In the course of this impact, the drone's explosives detonated, two people have been injured and all the residents of the apartment block have been evacuated. And it seems as though the Romanians were actually tracking this drone as it crossed in, but they were anxious that if they tried to shoot it down, you know, it might actually cause as many problems as simply allowing it to crash.
But nonetheless, it sounds like there was a huge response, given that this is a residential area, to clear that area to prevent any casualties, which mercifully there weren't. Oh, massive. Yeah, but two injured, as you say.
Yes, an absolutely massive response. I mean, you know, this isn't the first time it's happened. I mean, one of the problems, as the ground war in Ukraine has become bogged down, as the air war has got ever more intense, and both sides, the drones that have been used in attacks have gone astray. I mean, Ukrainian drones have landed in Baltic countries this year.
I mean, this is the second time a Russian drone has landed near this city in Romania. And, you know, one of the issues is that it appears as though, deliberately or not, the war is leading over the borders into NATO and to other parts of Europe. And that is obviously causing, you know, huge concerns. Part of the response that we're seeing is because there is
a sense that NATO members and European countries, you know, want to draw a line. You know, there is concern that Russia might attack inside Europe. I mean, there was a Wall Street Journal account of this earlier this week. There is concern about the sort of increasing hybrid warfare in Europe, you know, against UK and other countries.
And I think people are seeing this as an opportunity to try and draw a very, very hard line under this, because of the perceived recklessness of Russia in this conflict.
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Chapter 3: How did Romania respond to the Russian drone attack?
But at the same time, I think senior European officials, what NATO is making clear is that This feels very, very close to the edge and in light of all the other stuff that's been going on, whether, you know, we're talking about Russian-inspired sabotage attacks in Poland.
You know, as the head of GCHQ was talking earlier this week about sort of the increase in Russian hybrid warfare against the U.K., There is a sense that this is part of the picture of general Russian aggression, is the fact that we're now seeing consequences happening across borders inside NATO countries.
And I think there's a very, very strong desire to remind Russia, you know, what kind of perilous territory that this is tilting towards when you have drones exploding on the top of Romanian apartment blocks.
And in defensive terms, what will Romania be looking to do to bolster its defences or indeed any other country that borders with Ukraine or is close to the conflict? And will they be looking for NATO support in the shorter term?
One of the things that Romania has made clear is that they're very, very happy with the response by European and NATO allies so far. They're very happy with the kind of anger. I mean, In terms of what the response, I mean, it's not simply the Romanian response. It's going to be sort of a stepping up of the response around those borders.
I mean, already we've seen Poland, Romania, the countries that are closest to conflict, stepping up their preparedness for defences. I mean, there is already talk about moving assets, particularly around air defences, to help shore up countries that are more vulnerable to these kind of overspills. And
This week we saw the first time Poland being able to spend extra money from this new agreement to bolster its defences in terms of the collective defences of NATO and Europe. So I think what this does is it dramatises a problem that everyone is aware of and everyone is very, very concerned about.
And I think it's an opportunity because, you know, at a time where, for instance, Ukraine is facing crucial shortage of Patriot air defence missiles because of the war in Iran, it gives people an opportunity to stand up and say, look, this is a really big deal for Europe, particularly looking across the Atlantic towards the United States and saying, This is how bad the security situation is.
And I think that's as important as the kind of local issues about whether you bring in more defences to help cities on the edge of the conflict. I think it's like saying, hey, there is a big war going on here. The United States is part of NATO. We're all part of NATO. Everyone needs to start pulling together because, you know, we're in very risky territory.
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