Romania’s defence minister has issued a formal demand to Ukraine to reprogramme all its maritime drones to detonate automatically if they stray into Romanian territory, following an incident in which an unmanned vessel lost control and exploded in the port of Constanța.
An official ultimatum to Kyiv
Radu Miruță, Romania’s Minister of Defence, confirmed he had sent an official request to his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykhailo Fedorov, insisting that all Ukrainian-manufactured drones operating in the Black Sea be fitted with a fail-safe self-destruct mechanism. The statement was delivered on the margins of a conference ahead of the NATO summit in Turkey, according to broadcaster Digi24.
Miruță argued that even in the event of a complete loss of signal with the operator, preliminary programming could enforce an automatic detonation within designated no-fly zones. “But we can also act from the other side,” Miruță stated. “I have officially sent a request to the Ukrainian Minister of Defence, in which I stated that it is reasonable for Romania to announce that any drone launched into the Black Sea, manufactured in Ukraine, must be programmed so that if it accidentally enters Romanian territorial waters, under any conditions, it spontaneously explodes.”
A scramble for counter-drone defences
The minister also revealed that Romania has turned to its NATO allies for emergency cover. While Bucharest has learned lessons from the growing threat on the Eastern Flank and signed contracts for counter-drone systems, the equipment has yet to arrive. Miruță described it as “legitimate” to request temporary allied support to bridge the gap until Romania can independently neutralise the threat. The Romanian Ministry of Defence press service reported that specific deals are already in motion to close this capability gap.
Beyond the immediate aerial and naval threat, Miruță underscored Bucharest’s commitment to strengthening the European pillar within the NATO alliance. He pointed to concrete steps taken to revive Romania’s military industrial complex, highlighting that the government signed industrial cooperation contracts for five factories last year.
A dangerous lapse in the Black Sea
The diplomatic pressure follows a startling security lapse on June 5, when a maritime drone unexpectedly exploded in the civilian port of Constanța. The incident triggered an evacuation of part of the port, though no casualties were reported. Subsequent investigations by Romanian detection systems tracked several more sea drones in the Black Sea.
Authorities later determined that four drones had slipped out of the control of Ukrainian armed forces. Of the rogue vessels, one detonated in Constanța port, a second exploded nearby in open sea, and the remaining two were neutralized roughly 145 kilometres east of the port city. Romanian President Nicușor Dan later acknowledged that the craft that blew up in Constanța was indeed of Ukrainian origin.
