By Luiza Ilie
BUCHAREST, June 5 (Reuters) - A maritime drone of the type used in the war in neighbouring Ukraine self-detonated on Friday in Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta near an oil terminal, without causing any casualties, officials said.
The explosion was the second major incident in a populated area in just a week as the spillover threat increases from the war in Ukraine, which has been fighting against a Russian invasion since 2022.
Romanian officials did not specify whether the drone was
of Ukrainian or Russian origin.
News website www.g4media.ro cited Constanta county prefect Adrian Teodor Picoiu saying Ukraine had notified Romania that the drone was part of a group of five, with one exploding in Ukraine.
Authorities in Ukraine did not immediately comment while Russia's embassy in Romania said in a statement the drones were Ukrainian naval unmanned aerial vehicles.
The explosion comes 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 struck a densely populated area in a NATO state.
PORT IS ROMANIA'S LARGEST, KEY FOR UKRAINE
Romania's defence ministry said earlier the object self-detonated at 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) and was not part of the Romanian army's equipment nor involved in recent Black Sea exercises.
The port, Romania's largest, was evacuated, residents were warned to avoid the Black Sea coast, while ships and two helicopters were surveying the area, deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat told a briefing.
"We are not panicking, our measures are purely preventative," Arafat told reporters.
'SECOND SIGNIFICANT SECURITY INCIDENT'
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.
"This is the second significant security incident this week on the Romanian seaside," Romanian President Nicusor Dan said on Facebook just after news of the detonation.
European Commission Prsident Ursula von der Leyen said on X that Russia's war in Ukraine was increasingly becoming a direct threat to countries on Europe's eastern border.
The drone detonated some 500 metres away from an oil terminal.
Ukraine has been using Constanta - which has 156 berths and 32 km of quays - as an alternative grain export route, as well as for fuel imports.
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.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie, additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Jason Hovet; Editing by Mark Potter and Elaine Hardcastle)
