Romania: mines, drones and fear

In Romania, the war against Ukraine is often only a few kilometers away: minesweepers patrol the Black Sea, residents of the Danube Delta fear air raids. Is the government taking this seriously enough?

At seven o’clock in the morning the warship “Minesweeper 30” leaves the Black Sea port of Constanta. It is intended to ensure that the waters remain safe for the civilian cargo ships that build up before entering the port.

Freedom of civilian shipping on the Black Sea has been severely restricted since the war in Ukraine, says Bucharest security expert Alina Inayeh from the German Marshall Fund – even though it was once a calm, easy-to-navigate body of water.

There is now a lot of rubbish floating in the sea – pieces of furniture, plastic parts, dead dolphins – and explosive devices. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, explosive mines have repeatedly been washed into Romanian waters. A total of 11 ships, two helicopters and three squadrons of combat divers are deployed to detect and defuse the mines.

Search for treacherous sea mines

Commander Ioan Moldovan is highly concentrated: he searches the surface of the water for suspicious objects with his telescope. A collision with a sea mine containing around 30 kilograms of explosives can render a ship unable to maneuver or even cause it to sink.

Reconnaissance aircraft or drones with high-resolution cameras also provide data about objects in the water that look like sea mines. Cooperation with military partners like the USA is extremely important and must be trained regularly, says Moldovan.

Once you have identified an object as a mine, you have to keep an eye on it while maintaining a safe distance and then render it harmless with the help of a diver or by artillery fire.

The consequences of a lack of investment

The ship “Minesweeper 30”, built in 1989, is no longer the youngest. The entire Romanian navy is fighting with outdated equipment – although the country has invested massively in rearmament, especially since the beginning of the war against Ukraine.

But the Navy has hardly benefited from this so far, says security expert Alina Inayeh: “We have invested a lot in territorial defense and air defense, but not so much in maritime defense.” The Black Sea and the Danube Delta have been strategically neglected – both by Romania and NATO.

Russia intensifies attacks

The Danube Delta in particular is very close to the combat zone in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail was most recently the target of Russian drone attacks in August and September.

At the beginning of September alone, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia deployed 44 so-called kamikaze drones there – with the aim of destroying the strategically important port that handles the export of Ukrainian grain to the EU.

Plaurus fear of Russian drones

In the small village of Plauru on the other bank of the river, residents are feeling the effects. In the midday sun, the scenery looks idyllic: simple stone houses, vegetable gardens, and every now and then a cat sneaks along the gravel roads, which you can find everywhere here instead of tar roads. This can change quickly at night – the images then resemble a nightmare.

Plaurus Mayor Tudor Cernega shows a cell phone video recorded by a resident of his community. It is pitch black, only the loading cranes at the port facilities in Izmail on the other side of the Danube glow orange. Then you hear a crash, see a fireball over one of the ships, in the background the Ukrainian artillery fire and the sound of engines getting louder and louder.

It was a drone that was then destroyed with a bang, explains the mayor, still looking upset.

The incidents are increasing

He repeatedly informed the authorities about the danger situation in his village. He was only believed when he and the villagers found the drone parts in the middle of burnt trees in a crater. The incident is the third in a short period of time.

Now the authorities have reacted: The military has built two shelters made of reinforced concrete on the village green, around 70 meters long and 1.5 meters high. Up to forty people can find space and protection here should there be another night-time attack.

Romania has also extended the closure of its airspace. Where the Danube forms the border with Ukraine, the airspace is now a restricted zone 30 kilometers inland and up to four kilometers high. The goal: The airspace should be better monitored.

“Panic” after drone parts found

Meanwhile, it is disputed whether the incidents resulted in a violation of Romanian airspace. Mykhailo Podoljak, advisor to Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, recently claimed that the drones would fly undisturbed to Ukraine via Romania before their attacks.

“That is a wrong assessment,” says security expert George Scutaru from the New Strategy Center in Bucharest. “They come from Crimea by sea. They approach the Ukrainian ports on the Danube. Due to the geographical conditions with a lot of forests, it is very difficult to detect these types of objects.”

The Iranian Shahed drones used by Russia are cheap and not very technically sophisticated. Scutaru assumes that if drones crash over Romanian territory, it is due to technical errors.

Attempts to calm down

The Romanian government also rejects Podoljak’s allegations. And NATO also speaks of accidents with regard to drone parts. Nevertheless, the attacks are also “destabilizing” for Romania.

Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu recently tried to de-escalate: “Nobody is attacking us, dear people, come on, let’s calm the population down, otherwise we’ll all go crazy. Nobody is attacking us. The drone was shot down by the Ukrainian army.”

The most recent discovery of a drone wreckage occurred in the municipality of Nufaru – about 15 kilometers as the crow flies from Plauru and the border with Ukraine. People there are worried too.

A middle-aged man says he would like to leave the area. His wife said to him: “Let’s get out of here!” Another man even speaks of “panic” – because you never know what will happen on the other side of the river the next day.