On Saturday evening, November 14, unmanned aerial vehicles struck three commercial vessels in the waters off the coast of Sulina in the Danube Delta region. In response to the detected aerial targets, the Romanian Air Force scrambled fighter jets twice. This was stated by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Luca Niculescu, whose remarks were reported by RBC-Ukraine citing his post on the social network X.
Incident Progression and Military Response
According to Niculescu, the radar systems of the Romanian Ministry of Defence recorded aerial targets near the Danube Delta. Against the backdrop of the detected objects, the Air Force command twice deployed fighter jets to intercept and identify the targets. The specific characteristics of the drones, the type of damage inflicted on the vessels, and whether there were any casualties among the crews were not disclosed at the time of publication. The incident occurred in Romania's territorial waters, which Bucharest assesses as a direct violation of sovereignty and international maritime law.
Official Position of Bucharest
Luca Niculescu called the event "unacceptable" and "a violation of international law," emphasizing that such incidents reflect the deterioration of the situation in the region caused, in his view, by Russia's prolonged war against Ukraine. The State Secretary stated that he remains in constant contact with relevant agencies and that the safety of sailors is an absolute priority. According to his statement, Romania will continue to take all necessary measures together with allies to strengthen security in the Black Sea, and this issue remains a key priority for the government in close cooperation with regional partners and NATO.
Series of Incidents in the Black Sea
The attack on the three vessels near Sulina is not an isolated case. That same evening, November 14, in Romania's territorial waters near the settlement of Sfântu Gheorghe, a drone attacked a vessel sailing under the flag of Palau toward Ukraine; according to available reports, no one was injured in that attack. Earlier, on the morning of October 23, a more severe accident occurred in the same area: a merchant ship with Ukrainian citizens on board sank off the coast of Romania. The preliminary cause of the accident was also a drone strike—one person died, and several crew members are missing.
Broader Context: Vulnerability of Regional Shipping
The events off the Romanian coast fit into a series of attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea recorded throughout 2026. In particular, on October 13 off the coast of Bulgaria, drones attacked two merchant vessels—the Maltese cargo ship Chelsea 3, registered in Odesa and owned by Ukraine, as well as the vessel Azov Concord under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, which subsequently sank. Bulgarian authorities then turned to NATO and the EU for assistance, and the alliance did not rule out strengthening defense in the Black Sea. The recurring nature of such incidents in various parts of the waters underscores the systemic threat to commercial shipping and strengthens the arguments of regional countries in favor of expanding collective security measures.
