Arabic version: رومانيا تدمر طائرة مسيّرة قرب منصة غاز في البحر الأسود

According to The Guardian, Romania’s military destroyed a marine drone near the Neptun Deep offshore gas platform in the Black Sea, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to warn of an “escalating campaign of threats” against the European Union.

Romanian defence minister Radu Miruță said an F-16 fighter jet destroyed the device after it was spotted a few hundred metres from the gas extraction works. The platform is about 80 miles east of Constanța, and the drone was heading towards Romania’s exclusive economic zone, the report said.

Miruță said the decision was made in coordination with Romania’s president to protect several hundred people working on the platform and secure critical infrastructure. He added that Romanian officials had confirmed with Kyiv that the vessel was “not of Ukrainian origin.” Earlier this month, Romanian army divers destroyed two Gerbera-type drones drifting near the same offshore project.

Von der Leyen said the EU was facing threats intended to unsettle citizens and divide the bloc, describing the situation as “hybrid warfare” without naming an aggressor. She said the EU’s Readiness 2030 agenda was mobilising up to EUR 800 billion, alongside the European Drone Defence Initiative and Eastern Flank Watch, to provide member states with needed capabilities.

The development came as a heavy Russian missile and drone attack killed at least 15 people in and around Kyiv. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 600 first responders were involved in the response and urged partners to supply Patriot missiles, saying ballistic missiles remained the biggest threat.