A week after the explosion of a Russian drone on a building in Galati, Romania once again bore the brunt of the explosion of a drone – this time, maritime and Ukrainian – in the port of Constanta, on the Black Sea. No casualties have been reported. Ukraine admitted that the drone belonged to it, and said it had been "disrupted" by Russian electronic jamming.

Published on: 05/06/2026 - 16:27Modified on: 05/06/2026 - 16:59

A maritime drone exploded on the morning of Friday June 5 in the Romanian port of Constanta, on the Black Sea, without causing any casualties, a week after an aerial drone crashed into an apartment building in this EU and NATO member country, injuring two people.

The device "is of the type used in the war in Ukraine" and "is not part of the inventory of the Romanian army", affirmed the Romanian Ministry of Defense, adding that it "self-destructed around 10:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. GMT) without causing any casualties".

The Russian embassy in Romania quickly placed the blame on Ukraine. “These are Ukrainian unmanned maritime vehicles,” she wrote on Telegram messaging, adding that “any attempt to link these drones, directly or indirectly, to Russia and attribute responsibility for the incident to it is completely unfounded.”

Ukraine then admitted that the drone in question was one of its own, which it said was “disturbed” by Russian electronic jamming.

This incident comes a week after a drone, this time aerial, hit a building in Galati, near the border with Ukraine, lightly injuring a 14-year-old teenager and his 53-year-old mother.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan named Russia guilty, specifying on Sunday that the machine was a Geran-2 of Russian design.

The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, denounced the “irresponsible behavior of Russia” which represents “a danger for all of us”.

Drone incursions into Romania have been detected dozens of times since Russia's offensive in Ukraine began in 2022, but this was the first time a residential building was hit.

FocusRomanians on the brink of war: the Danube delta targeted by the Russians

On Friday, the organization said it was monitoring the situation after being informed of the Constanta incident by Romania.

“We continue to coordinate closely with the Romanian authorities,” a NATO official said.

Nicusor Dan stressed that this was "the second significant security incident this week along the Romanian coast", referring on X to a marine mine discovered on a beach.

“Such particularly serious situations are the direct consequences of the war of aggression unleashed by Russia against Ukraine,” he added.

A thousand people evacuated

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said the incident was a direct consequence of Russia's war against Ukraine. “It increasingly represents a direct threat to the countries on our eastern border,” she wrote on X.

Also read: Drone enters Romanian airspace during Russian strikes in Ukraine

The head of Romania's emergency department, Raed Arafat, said the maritime drone was detected around 6 a.m. (3 a.m. GMT).

“The area has been cordoned off and the relevant authorities have secured the site,” he added at a press conference, adding that two helicopters flew over the area to check for the possible presence of other drones. Residents and tourists have received telephone alerts asking them to “avoid the coastal area within a radius of one kilometer and to evacuate the entire coastline” while waiting to eliminate any risk, he said.

In total, around a thousand people were evacuated, according to the emergency services.

“Our measures, for the moment, are purely preventive,” Raed Arafat said.

President Dan said that the "important thing is that there was information that this drone was going to explode", so that everyone was able to be brought to safety, in front of journalists in Montenegro, where he is attending the EU-Western Balkans summit.

With AFP

Keywords associated with the article

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.