Vladimir Putin just issued a not-so-friendly reminder of Donald Trump’s failure to deliver on one of his tentpole campaign promises.
The Russian tyrant’s war in Ukraine spilled over into nearby Romania, a member of both NATO and the European Union, around 2 a.m. Friday when a Russian drone laden with explosives smashed into the roof of an apartment block in the eastern city of Galati.
Trump repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail to end the conflict, which he accused Joe Biden of needlessly prolonging, on “day one” of his second presidency. It is now day 495, with Friday’s strike a stark reminder of the lack of progress on peace talks so far.
U.S.-led negotiations remain locked in a stalemate as Moscow continues to demand that Kyiv surrender large swathes of territories previously occupied by Russian forces since 2014.
The two sides also remain at loggerheads over the security guarantees Ukraine says it would need for a lasting ceasefire.
Trump has meanwhile drastically scaled back military support for Ukraine. His lead envoy, Steve Witkoff, has repeatedly shuttled to Moscow over the past year but has not once set foot in Kyiv.
The Russian drone, which injured two people and left the roof of the Romanian building blackened and burned, landed just across the border from the Ukrainian port of Izmail, which Ukrainian authorities have said was under attack at the time of the incident.
Romania’s military said there had been “no opportunity” to intercept the drone before it landed and underscored that the apartment block did not appear to be its intended target.
“We are not facing an attack on Romania, we are facing the effects of a conflict taking place right next to our border,” Gheorge Maxim, deputy commander of the Romanian Joint Forces Command Brigadier General, told CNN.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha added that the drone incident “proved once again that Russian aggression poses a real threat to the Black Sea region and the entire Europe.”
Both NATO and the European Union have slammed the strike as only the latest instance of Putin’s increasing aggression toward the rest of the continent.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said: “We condemn Russia’s recklessness, and NATO will continue to strengthen our defenses against all threats, including drones.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was similarly fierce in her response, insisting, “Russia’s war of aggression has crossed yet another line.”
Trump has something of a hot-and-cold relationship with Putin, who interfered in the 2016 presidential election in an effort to bolster Trump’s first bid for public office.
The president has consistently proven more bullish about relations with both NATO and the EU.
Trump has, during his second term, threatened to invade Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark, along with branding the alliance a “paper tiger” for failing to back his war with Iran.
His retaliatory measures against NATO member states that objected to the conflict have included the withdrawal of some 5,000 American troops stationed in Germany. Their deployment formed part of the alliance’s deterrent against Russian aggression.
Trump has also, since assuming office again last year, delivered ideological broadsides against Europe’s handling of immigration and locked horns with the bloc over trade arrangements he claims are unfair to U.S. businesses, threatening tariffs as high as 50 percent last year.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story. Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, called Friday’s drone strike a “reckless incursion” and insisted “we will defend every inch of NATO territory.”
