A drone exploded in the port of the Romanian city of Constanta. It concerns a sailing unmanned aircraft that is being used in the war in neighboring Ukraine, the authorities have announced.

Ukraine says it is a Ukrainian drone whose signal was disrupted by Russia, causing it to veer off course. Kyiv says he has warned the Romanians in advance.

Part of the port area has been evacuated. As a precaution, ships are not allowed to sail in part of the coastal area. According to local authorities, Ukraine has warned that there are more unexploded drones in the area.

It concerns a group of five unmanned aircraft, one of which exploded in Ukraine and one in Romania. The search includes a helicopter for three drones. From the interview of news site G4 Media(opens in new window) It is not clear to the local driver whether these are Ukrainian or Russian drones.

As far as we know, no injuries were reported in the explosion. The sea drone was found early this morning. The unmanned device exploded around 11:30 a.m. Dutch time. The emergency services and the army responded en masse to the incident.

Naval drones are used to detonate just like kamikaze drones, but via the water instead of the air. Ukraine has repeatedly hit Russian forces with it in recent years. Russia is working hard to develop similar maritime kamikaze drones, the Ukrainian military intelligence services warned earlier this year.

President Nicusor Dan emphasized that the explosion in Constanta is the second major security incident on the coast in a week. Two days ago a sea mine was found and detonated. A week ago, an apartment building in the city of Galati was hit by a Russian drone, injuring two people.

The NATO country is in close contact with the military alliance on the situation, President Dan said. There are no signals that Article 5 will now be invoked, in other words that allies will provide military assistance to an attacked Member State.

Last night, five Russian ships were attacked with naval drones in the Sea of ​​Azov, the Ukrainian military says. This inland sea is located between Russian-occupied Crimea, the coastal area near the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol and the southwestern part of Russia. The statement said five cargo ships carrying grain, military equipment and fuel were affected.

Azerbaijan says five Azerbaijani civilians were killed in the attack. The affected ships are said not to sail under the flag of this country, but to have had a total of 25 Azerbaijani crew members.