Sea drone detected in Romanian territorial waters not ours, Ukraine says

Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, announced on Wednesday, December 3, that all its “Sea Baby” maritime drones engaged in operational missions in the Black Sea region have been identified, that it has not lost any of them, and that none entered Romanian territorial waters.

The announcement came after Romania’s Defense Ministry said in a press release on the same day that a maritime drone was detected 36 miles east of the city of Constanța, in the Black Sea. The drone posed a danger to navigation and was neutralized by military divers from the Romanian Naval Forces, according to the official press release.

“Soldiers of the 39th Divers Center traveled to the maritime area estimated at 36 nautical miles east of Constanța, with the support of the maritime surveillance vessel MAI 1.107 of the Coast Guard. After analyzing the drifting object, the soldiers found that it was an unmanned surface vehicle (maritime drone) of the 'Sea Baby' type. The intervention team received approval to neutralize the identified object, and around 13:00, the maritime drone was destroyed by controlled detonation,” the ministry noted, leaving out whether or not the drone in question was Ukrainian.

The Black Sea has seen increased military activity in recent weeks, after Ukraine stepped up its attacks on Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers. So far, three such tankers have been attacked with kamikaze drones. The attacks took place in Turkey’s economic exclusion zone, and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned them as a danger to navigational safety.

Ukraine’s attacks on the tankers aim to weaken Russia’s ability to sell its goods abroad and finance its war. However, they also led to increased insurance premiums for ships carrying grain, crude oil, and petroleum products.

The Romanian Naval Forces have a certain degree of experience when it comes to destroying military equipment that has drifted into national waters. In the past nearly four years, approximately 150 naval mines have been neutralized in the Black Sea. Seven of them were destroyed by the Romanian Naval Forces.

Moreover, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey have a joint task group for defusing stray mines, which began floating in the Black Sea after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The United States is currently attempting to mediate peace talks between the two warring sides, but a compromise has not yet been reached, according to the latest updates. Russia is demanding that Ukraine cede territory in its eastern parts, but the latter is unwilling to let go of fortified territory and leave the way open to Kyiv.