A commercial vessel spotted the marine drone at 6:28 a.m. local time, a few hundred meters from the Neptun Deep gas project in the Black Sea. F-16 jets were scrambled. A Romanian jet destroyed the drone, the Defense Ministry said.
Defense Minister Radu Miruta said it was “loaded with explosives.” About the order to shoot, he said: “In order to protect the lives of the several hundred people working on the platform and to secure critical infrastructure, the decision was made to destroy” it. Ukraine, he added, had confirmed the drone was not one of its own.
President Nicusor Dan put the blame on Moscow. “I strongly condemn the intensification of these types of irresponsible incidents on the part of the Russian Federation,” he wrote on X. “We remain vigilant alongside NATO allies to defend ourselves and repel such challenges.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was facing a “hybrid warfare” campaign. The bloc, she said, must boost its defense efforts to “deter provocation and aggression.” She went on: “An escalating campaign of threats is underway, unsettling our citizens and seeking to divide our Union.”
A project close to start-up
Neptun Deep is owned by OMV Petrom and the state gas producer Romgaz. When it comes online in 2027, it is expected to make Romania the EU’s largest gas producer.
Not the first incident
Earlier this month, army divers destroyed two Gerbera-type drones seen drifting in Romania’s exclusive economic zone near the same project. On the same Thursday, Romania also reported that an aerial drone had crashed in an unpopulated part of its territory during Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Romania, which shares a border with Ukraine, has repeatedly seen drones enter its airspace and mines float in the Black Sea.
