BUCHAREST: A sea drone self-destructed near an oil terminal in Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta on Friday, without causing casualties, as Ukraine said Russia jammed the vessel causing it to driftoff course.

The explosion was the second major incident in a populated area in Romania on Natos eastern flank within a week as the spillover threat from the war in Ukraine increases.

Ukraine’s navy said one of its drones lost control in the Black Sea as a result of Russian electronic warfare. It contacted Romania to warn them and prevent casualties, it said.

Romanian Defence Minister Radu Miruta said that warning allowed a timely evacuation.

President Nicusor Dan pinned the blame on Russia and said another three drones that Ukraine lost control of had also detonated off the coast and there was no longer any danger.

“The entry of this drone into Romanian sovereign space is a direct consequence of the war waged by Russia against Ukraine,” the Romanian leader said on social media accounts.

The explosion took place a week after authorities said a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the southeastern Romanian city of Galati, near the border with Ukraine, injuring two people _ the first time in the war that a drone has struck a densely populated area in a Nato state.

Following the latest inci­dent, Russia’s embassy in Romania said it was not involved and the drones were not Russian.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2026