The Ukrainian navy, in a statement on the Facebook network, has acknowledged that the naval drone that exploded this morning around 10:30 local time in the port of Constanta (Romania) belonged to its arsenal. The Romanian Ministry of Defense reported that the detonation caused no injuries, but did damage infrastructure.
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“While performing tasks in the Black Sea operational area, one of the unmanned naval vessels of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Navy lost control and ended up off the coast of Romania,” the statement said. Kyiv attributes the failure to “electronic warfare.”
The Ukrainian military also assures that they provided the Romanian navy with the necessary information to ensure the incident did not cause casualties among the civilian population.
The detonation could be observed several meters away from the scene, leaving a black cloud several meters high that rose into the sky. The Ukrainian navy’s statement confirms initial suspicions that the crashed device belonged to the Kyiv government because it was immediately known that the uncontrolled drone was part of a group of five devices.
Of the five drones, one exploded in the port of Constanta and another was destroyed in Ukrainian territory. The other three are being searched for. From the outset, the Russian Embassy in Bucharest maintained that the drone was of Ukrainian origin and has rejected any Russian involvement in the incident.
Shortly after the event, Ursula von der Leyen also spoke on the matter. The President of the European Commission stated that Russia’s war against Ukraine has become a danger for all EU countries on the eastern flank.
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The Romanian Ministry of Defense had been alerted at 6:20 local time to the presence of the naval drone in an area of the port called Berth 78. Emergency units were deployed to the scene from the first alert to secure the area.
The drone model in question is called Magura and is usually part of the Ukrainian army’s equipment. Devices like this can be armed with up to two missiles and machine guns, and have the particularity of being designed to carry explosives on board and detonate on a target in a suicide action.
Emergency systems were activated from the first moment, securing the area. The priority, according to the Government of Romania, remains the protection of human lives and port infrastructure, as stated in a message on X by President Nicușor Dan.
This episode adds to the incident that occurred exactly a week ago, when a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the city of Galați, in an area of eastern Romania bordering Ukraine and Moldova.
Seven days later, this is another event that puts the focus on drone warfare actions, this time in a commercial enclave as important as the port of Constanta, one of the most relevant in the Black Sea. It is one of the logistical centers for the regions bathed by the Danube River and one of Europe’s main ports for grain export.
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