A Ukrainian marine drone exploded in a Romanian port, authorities in Bucharest said, with the Ukrainian navy blaming Russia for the incident.
The Romanian Ministry of National Defence said in a June 6 statement that a naval drone observed on the Port of Constanta in the Black Sea self-detonated at 10:30 a.m. local time, without causing casualties.
The Ukrainian Naval Forces confirmed that the nautical drone was theirs, blaming Russian jamming for the vessel straying into NATO waters.
“While performing tasks in the Black Sea operational zone, one of the Ukrainian navy’s unmanned sea boats, under the influence of enemy electronic warfare, lost control and ended up off the coast of Romania,” the navy said in a Facebook post.
“The Ukrainian Navy provided the Romanian Navy with the necessary information to prevent civilian casualties.”
The Port of Constanta is Romania’s largest, with 156 berths and 19 miles of quays. Ukraine has been using it for fuel imports and a grain export route.
Authorities evacuated Constanta port, and more than 1,000 people were removed from beaches on the Black Sea and the nearby Danube Delta, as a precaution, Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat told a briefing.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan said in a post on X that the naval drone was part of a military operation led by Ukraine against Russia, echoing the Ukrainian navy’s assessment that “Ukrainian forces lost control over the respective means as a result of electronic warfare actions undertaken by Russia.”
Russia Denies Involvement
Dan said that in addition to that drone, a second one self-detonated off the port, and two others exploded approximately 90 miles east of Constanța.
None of the drones caused injuries or significant damage, he said, and there was no longer any threat to Romanian civilians or infrastructure.
The Black Sea is crucial for shipments of oil, oil products, and grain, and is shared by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
In a post on X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her support for Romania.
“This is a direct consequence of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” von der Leyen said. “It is increasingly becoming a direct threat to countries on our Eastern border.”
The Russian Embassy in Romania denied involvement in the incident.
“Any attempts to directly or indirectly ‘link’ these drones to Russia and hold it responsible for this incident are completely groundless,” the embassy said, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS.
Drone Crashes Into Apartment
Romania shares a 400-mile land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones repeatedly breach its airspace, as well as mines floating across key trade and energy routes since Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine in February 2022.
Earlier this week, the Romanian navy detonated a Russian YaRM-type anti-landing mine that had drifted to shore.
The explosion of the Ukrainian naval drones took place a week after authorities said a Russian drone had strayed into Romanian territory, crashing into an apartment building in the southeastern city of Galati.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense said the drone was conducting strikes on civilian and infrastructure targets overnight between May 28 and 29 in Ukraine, in the vicinity of the river border with Romania.
Two civilians were injured.
This was the first time since the start of the Russia–Ukraine war that a drone has hit a densely populated area in a NATO member state.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 29 said it was too early to tell whether the drone was Russian, suggesting it might have been a stray Ukrainian drone, saying that Ukrainian drones had previously been spotted in the Baltic countries, Finland, and Poland.
“The first reaction was exactly the same as it is now in Romania: The Russians are coming,” Putin said. “Then, after a short time, it turned out that it had nothing to do with Russian drones.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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