BUCHAREST - A maritime drone self-detonated on Friday in Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta near an oil terminal, without causing casualties, as Ukraine accused Russia of jamming one of its vessels before it drifted into Romanian waters.

The explosion was the second major incident in a populated area in Romania on NATO's eastern flank in just a week as the spillover threat increases from the war in Ukraine, which has been fighting against a full-scale Russian invasion since 2022.

Ukraine's navy said one of its naval drones lost control while on a mission in the Black Sea, as a result of Russian electronic warfare, and drifted towards the coast.

It contacted the Romanian side to warn them and prevent casualties, it said.

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.

After the latest incident, Russia's embassy in Romania said it was not involved and that the drone was not Russian.

PORT IS ROMANIA'S LARGEST, KEY FOR UKRAINE

The Black Sea is crucial for shipments of grain, oil and oil products and is shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Russia.

The Constanta port is Romania's largest, with 156 berths and 32 km (19 miles) of quays. Ukraine has been using it as an alternative grain export route, as well as for fuel imports.

Romania's defence ministry said the object self-detonated at 1030 a.m. (0730 GMT), around four hours after being alerted to its presence.

The port was evacuated, over 1,000 people were removed from beaches on the Black Sea and the nearby Danube Delta as a precaution, while ships and two helicopters surveyed the area for additional drones, deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat told a briefing.

Restrictions were lifted later in the day after no other risks were detected.

OFFICIALS WARN OF THREAT OF WAR TO EU'S EAST

European Union member Romania shares a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones repeatedly breach its airspace since Moscow attacked Kyiv four years ago, as well as mines floating in the Black Sea across key trade and energy routes.

Earlier this week, Romania's navy detonated a Russian YaRM-type anti-landing mine that had drifted to its Black Sea shore.

Officials from Romania, Ukraine and the EU highlighted the Constanta explosion as a direct consequence of Russia's war against Ukraine.

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

"This incident shows once again that Russia's ongoing full-scale aggression poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire region," a spokesperson for Ukraine's foreign ministry said on X.

The drone detonated some 500 metres away from an oil terminal.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie, additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Jason Hovet and Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Mark Potter and Elaine Hardcastle)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 6:27 AM.

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