Bucharest (AFP) – A sea drone exploded early Friday in Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta without causing casualties, officials said, a week after an aerial drone injured two when it crashed into an apartment building in the country. The EU and NATO nation has reported dozens of airspace breaches since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, blaming Russia for them, and asked the alliance to bolster air defenses.
The sea drone was “of the type used in the war in Ukraine” and not part of the Romanian military’s inventory, the defense ministry said in a press release, adding the drone “self-destructed around 10:30 am local time (0730 GMT) without causing any casualties.” Romanian President Nicusor Dan had earlier said on X that the “significant security incident” represents “the direct consequences of the war of aggression launched by Russia against Ukraine,” which requires “a high level of vigilance.” The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also said the incident was a direct consequence of Russia’s war against Ukraine. “It is increasingly becoming a direct threat to countries on our Eastern border,” she wrote on X.
Russia said the sea drone was Ukrainian. “These are Ukrainian unmanned maritime vehicles… Attempts to link these drones, directly or indirectly, to Russia and to attribute responsibility for the incident to Russia are completely unfounded,” the Russian embassy in Bucharest said on Telegram.
NATO stated that the alliance was monitoring the situation after being informed by Romania on the incident. “We continue to closely coordinate with the Romanian authorities,” a NATO official said. Romanian authorities evacuated the coastal area – more than 1,000 people – and sent two helicopters to scan the area for any other possible devices. Inhabitants and tourists received phone alerts to avoid the coastal area within a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) radius.
“Our measures at this time are purely preventive,” Raed Arafat, head of the Department of Emergency Situations said in a press conference. “What’s important is that there was information that this drone was going to explode,” so everyone was safe, president Dan told reporters while in Montenegro for the EU-Western Balkans summit.
On May 29, a drone exploded on the roof of an apartment building in the city of Galati, close to the border with Ukraine, injuring a mother and her adolescent son, the most serious such incident after the start of the war in Ukraine. President Dan said that Bucharest had confirmed the drone in the Galati strike was Geran-2, saying it was “of Russian origin.” Earlier this week a sea drone was found on a beach on the Black Sea coast.
© 2024 AFP
