Marine drone self-detonates in Romanian port as Black Sea threat widens

By Luiza Ilie

BUCHAREST, June 5 (Reuters) – A maritime drone of the type used in the war in neighboring Ukraine self-detonated near an oil terminal in Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta on Friday without causing any casualties, officials said.

The blast was the second major incident in a populated area in just a week as the threat of war spillover escalates in Ukraine, which has been fighting against Russian occupation since 2022.

Romanian officials did not specify whether the drone was of Ukrainian or Russian origin.

News site www.g4media.ro said Constanta Governor Adrian Teodor Picoiu said that Ukraine informed Romania that the drone was part of a group of five and that one of them exploded in Ukraine.

While officials in Ukraine did not immediately comment, Russia’s embassy in Romania said in a statement that the unmanned aerial vehicles were Ukrainian.

The explosion came a week after authorities said a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the town of Galati in southeastern Romania, near the Ukrainian border, injuring two people; This was the first time in the war that a drone had crashed into a densely populated area in a NATO state.

PORT IS THE LARGEST IN ROMANIA, THE KEY TO UKRAINE

The Romanian defense ministry said earlier that the object exploded on its own at 10.30am (0730 GMT) and was not part of the Romanian army’s equipment and did not take part in recent Black Sea exercises.

Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat told a briefing that the port, Romania’s largest, had been evacuated, residents were warned to stay away from the Black Sea coast, and ships and two helicopters were examining the area.

“We are not panicking, our measures are purely preventive,” Arafat told reporters.

‘SECOND MAJOR SECURITY INCIDENT’

European Union member Romania shares a 650 km (400 mi) land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones repeatedly violate its airspace since Moscow attacked Kiev four years ago, as well as floating mines in the Black Sea along key trade and energy routes.

Earlier this week, the Romanian navy detonated a Russian YaRM-type anti-landing mine that had drifted onto the Black Sea coast.

“This is the second significant security incident on the Romanian coast this week,” Romanian President Nicusor Dan said in a statement on Facebook immediately after the news of the explosion. he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in ‌X that Russia’s war in Ukraine is increasingly becoming a direct threat to countries on Europe’s eastern border.

The drone was detonated approximately 500 meters away from an oil terminal.

Ukraine uses Constanta, which has 156 moorings and 32 kilometers of docks, as an alternative grain export route in addition to fuel imports.

The Black Sea is vital for the transportation of grain, oil and petroleum products and is shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Türkiye, as well as Ukraine and Russia.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie, additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Jason Hovet; Editing by Mark Potter and Elaine Hardcastle)