BUCHAREST: A maritime drone self-detonated on Friday in Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta near an oil terminal, without causing casualties, as Ukraine accused Russia of jamming one of its vessels before it drifted into Romanian waters.
The explosion was the second major incident in a populated area in Romania on NATO's eastern flank in just a week as the spillover threat increases from the war in Ukraine, which has been fighting against a full-scale Russian invasion since 2022.
Ukraine's navy said one of its naval drones lost control while on a mission in the Black Sea, as a result of Russian electronic warfare, and drifted towards the coast.
It contacted the Romanian side to warn them and prevent casualties, it said.
The explosion took place 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 has struck a densely populated area in a NATO state.
After the latest incident, Russia's embassy in Romania said it was not involved and that the drone was not Russian.
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