Ukraine Explains Constanța Drone Incident, Cites Russian EW; Romania Seeks New Procedures

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has responded to 14 questions from Romania's National Defense Ministry (MApN) concerning a naval drone that exploded in Constanța Port on June 5, 2026. Kyiv attributes the incident to the loss of control over four maritime drones, suggesting Russian electronic warfare as a probable cause. According to Ukraine's response, communication was lost with the four 'Sargan-3000' naval drones on the afternoon of June 4, near Sevastopol, as they moved east in the Black Sea. Ukrainian authorities claim they had no further control over the drones' trajectories after that point.

On the morning of June 5, the Ukrainian Naval Forces informed their Romanian counterparts about the risk of self-detonation of the drones and the scheduled destruction sequence. Ukraine stated that the lack of communication made it impossible to cancel this command. The incident saw one drone explode in Dana 78 of Constanța Port at 10:27 AM without casualties, followed by another explosion offshore and the self-detonation of two more drones in the Black Sea, as reported by commercial vessels.

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the incident was caused by losing control of four naval drones, most likely as a result of electronic warfare actions carried out by the Russian Federation.

In the aftermath, Romania's MApN requested the establishment of a permanent technical communication channel between the Romanian and Ukrainian naval forces. Defense Minister Radu Miruță officially asked that all Ukrainian naval drones be programmed to self-destruct only in safe zones, away from Romanian interests, if control is lost. MApN also expressed its willingness to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

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all naval drones launched by Ukraine must be programmed to self-destruct exclusively in safe zones, located outside Romania's areas of interest, in case they lose control.