Russian drones found near vital European offshore gas site, get blown up

Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Minimize to nav Romanian army divers used explosives to destroy two Russian-made drones found floating in the Black Sea near Romania’s largest natural gas project, according to the NATO member country’s defense minister. Defense Minister Radu Miruță posted a Facebook video supposedly showing one of the drones being blown up in the water by explosive ordnance disposal divers of the Romanian army on August 11, as reported by Reuters and other news outlets. The drones were first spotted in the water by a ship working in the vicinity of the Neptun Deep—an offshore gas project under development in the Black Sea that will make Romania the largest gas producer in the European Union. A Romanian Coast Guard ship that responded with army soldiers aboard found two drifting Gerbera-type drones of Russian design along with other debris. Miruță also disclosed that Romania had reached out to “Ukrainian partners who confirmed that the systems do not belong to them.” The ongoing war in Ukraine, following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, has led to multiple incidents in which drones either accidentally or intentionally strayed across the borders of European countries such as Romania. Dozens of Russian drone incursions into Romanian airspace have occasionally caused damage and forced Romania to respond with costly fighter jet interceptions to shoot down some of the wayward drones. In one of the most serious incidents, a Russian Geran-2 drone with an explosive payload struck an apartment building in southeastern Romania, injuring a child and a woman while forcing 70 people to evacuate the area on May 29. Another previous Russian drone strike damaged a workshop and an electricity pole and forced over 500 people to evacuate. The Russian-designed Gerbera drones found in this latest incident in the Black Sea are commonly used by the Russian military for one-way drone strikes, reconnaissance, and to act as decoys during Russia’s missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. It’s unclear whether the drones were carrying explosive payloads and why they ended up in the water near Romania’s offshore gas project. But the Neptun Deep project is a significant energy site for the European Union at a time when Europe has been developing alternatives to sanctioned Russian oil and gas. Scheduled to start production in 2027, the offshore gas project would double Romania’s gas production and supply other European countries such as Germany and Moldova, according to Reuters. This latest incident comes just a week after an explosive drone attempted to attack a Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked at Leipzig Airport in Germany. US intelligence officials told The Wall Street Journal that Russia was most likely responsible for that attack. Meanwhile, the broader Black Sea has become a hotly contested zone during the war between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine has used flying drones and drone boats to attack Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, along with targeting shadow tankers carrying sanctioned Russian oil or gas. Russia has also escalated missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian ports and ships entering or leaving them.