Romania says five maritime drones destroyed following Constanța Port incident

Romania's acting Defence Minister Radu Miruță said authorities detected and destroyed five additional maritime drones before and after the explosion of a maritime drone in the port of Constanța last month.

Miruță said four drones were detected before the June 5 incident in Constanța, while another was found afterwards. He added that some of the recovered drone fragments contained explosives, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

Responding to criticism over the Ministry of Defence's handling of the incident, including the absence of a public report and questions about why Navy vessels did not intervene, Miruță said the Romanian military is not responsible for guarding the port during peacetime.

"A fire engine parked in a garage does not put out a fire kilometres away from it unless it is on a call-out to do so," he said.

On June 5, a maritime drone exploded in the Romanian port of Constanța without causing any casualties.

Ukraine later acknowledged that the drone belonged to its forces, saying it had gone off course due to electronic warfare measures. Kyiv said it had informed Bucharest of the situation in advance, allowing Romanian authorities to evacuate people from the area surrounding the port.

By Sabina Mammadli