Maritime drone self-detonates in Romania's Constanta port, exposing Black Sea security gaps

A maritime drone of Ukrainian origin self-detonated on Friday morning in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, near an oil terminal, without causing casualties. The explosion occurred at 10:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT) after the unmanned vessel had drifted through the port's industrial zone for several hours, undetected by security infrastructure.

The incident

The drone entered the port around 5 a.m., traversed several kilometres of water in the industrial area, and became stuck in an anti-pollution barrier near berth 78, close to the Romanian Agency for Saving Human Life at Sea (ARSVOM) headquarters. Authorities evacuated the area minutes before the device self-detonated. The blast damaged an ARSVOM hall and the vessel Hercules, but caused no injuries. Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat told a briefing that measures were purely preventative, adding,

We are not panicking, our measures are purely preventative.

Origin and control of the drone

Ukraine's naval forces confirmed in a Facebook post that the drone belonged to them, stating it was lost to Russian electronic warfare systems during a mission in the Black Sea. Rear Admiral Constantin Ciorobea, Commander of the Naval Operational Component, argued on Romania TV that the device could not have reached the oil terminal by drifting alone. He noted that Black Sea currents run north to south along the Romanian coast, meaning an unguided vessel would have ended up on beaches near Eforie or Mangalia, not inside the port's protected basin.

We are talking about a Ukrainian drone over which the Ukrainians lost control, but someone else took control, because a drifting drone could not have reached that area of the Port of Constanta.

Ship captain Mihai Radu reinforced this assessment, calling the official drifting scenario an insult to basic naval logic given the port's narrow, heavily surveilled entrance.

Security failures

Sources cited by G4Media and Info Sud-Est said the drone's penetration was possible because neither the Defence Ministry nor the Transport Ministry had purchased high-performance radars for monitoring small vessels entering the port in the four years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Officials stated that such objects can currently be detected only visually, "if someone is at the end of the pier." The same sources noted that multiple Ukrainian drones had been hijacked by Russia, with one directed toward Constanta and ending up near a ship loaded with methanol, a toxic and flammable liquid.

The Romanian authorities have done nothing to protect and secure the Port of Constanta to the maximum, they haven't even installed basic human guards.

Regional response

Bulgaria's Defence Ministry announced intensified surveillance of its territorial waters and Black Sea maritime zones following the explosion. The full coastal radar surveillance system, a Panther helicopter, and unmanned aerial systems were deployed. A Cougar helicopter was placed on standby. A temporary danger zone for navigation was established, and Bulgarian naval forces maintained continuous information exchange with the Romanian Navy and NATO's Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM).

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for Romania, stating,

We stand with Romania and we are doing what your authorities consider necessary to protect territorial and air sovereignty.

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

Broader context

The Constanta explosion came exactly one week after a Russian Geran-2 aerial drone crashed into an apartment building in the southeastern Romanian city of Galati, near the Ukrainian border, injuring two people. That was the first time in the war that a drone struck a densely populated area in a NATO state. Earlier this week, Romania's navy detonated a Russian YaRM-type anti-landing mine that had drifted to its Black Sea shore. President Nicusor Dan described the port explosion as the second significant security incident on the Romanian seaside this week.