Romania destroys drone near gas project

 

Henrik Samuelsson/TT

 

Published 13.27

 

Romanian F-16 planes at the Romanian air base in Borcea earlier in August. Photo: Vadim Ghirda/AP/TT

F-16 fighter jets have destroyed a naval drone just a few hundred meters from the Romanian fossil gas project Neptun Deep in the Black Sea, the NATO country's Defense Minister Radu Miruta announced.

The drone was said to have been "filled with explosives". Miruta says he has received confirmation from Ukraine that it did not come from there, but does not explicitly point out Russia.

Neptun Deep is located east of the land border between Bulgaria and Romania. In the other direction, it is a similar distance to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian Crimean peninsula.

Earlier on Thursday, both Romania and Poland raised their alert levels due to flying drones in connection with major Russian attacks in Ukraine. One drone crashed near the Romanian city of Tulcea. Another crashed in Moldova.