Romania destroyed an explosives-laden maritime drone near its critical Neptun Deep gas platform and recovered debris from a separate aerial drone that crashed on its soil, the Romanian Defense Ministry reported. The incidents came during a major Russian attack on Ukraine on 20 August that killed 14 people in Kyiv city and oblast, caused incidents in Moldova, and triggered air defense activation in Poland.

F-16 fires cannon at sea drone near gas platform

A commercial vessel spotted a drifting maritime drone near the Neptun Alpha production platform, approximately 80 nautical miles east of Constanța, at around 06:28, the Defense Ministry said. Two Romanian F-16s scrambled with orders to fire. One engaged the target with its onboard cannon—the first time Romania used a cannon against a drone and the first engagement against a maritime drone. All previous shootdowns used air-to-air missiles against aerial drones.

The country's Defense Minister Radu Miruță said the drone was carrying explosives and was spotted just hundreds of meters from the platform where several hundred people work. Through a recently established direct communication channel, Ukraine confirmed the drone was not of Ukrainian origin. President Nicușor Dan directly blamed Russia, condemning "the intensification of these types of irresponsible incidents on the part of the Russian Federation."

The engagement came nine days after Romanian navy divers destroyed two Gerbera-type drones drifting near the same platform by controlled detonation.

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Aerial drone crashes in Romania's Tulcea County

Earlier overnight, Romanian radar detected aerial targets near the Ukrainian border at 02:23, the Defense Ministry said. Two Spanish F-18s from NATO's air policing mission and a Romanian IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter scrambled. At 03:21, a drone crossed into Romanian airspace 13 km east of Galați and crashed three minutes later near the village of Grindu in Tulcea County. No casualties or damage were reported. The fragments posed no explosive hazard.

The crash came four days after a Spanish F-18 shot down another drone over Romanian airspace, Euronews reported. Romanian F-16s intercepted three Russian drones in July.

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Poland activates defenses, Moldova hit by drone spillover

Poland's Operational Command activated military aircraft and ground-based air defense systems during the Russian attack as a preventive measure. The Netherlands provided air defense support. No breach of Polish airspace was recorded.

Moldova faced multiple incidents. At 03:16, the country's National Army detected what was preliminarily identified as a Shahed-136/Geran-2 drone crossing from Ukraine near Kotlovyna in Odesa Oblast into Moldova's Gagauzia region. It returned to Ukrainian airspace six minutes later, public broadcaster Moldova1 said.

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Separately, an explosion at a truck parking lot on Ukrainian territory about 150 meters from the Giurgiulești-Reni border crossing at around 03:45 sparked a fire that spread onto Moldovan soil, Newsmaker reported. Border police found drone fragments in a crater approximately 1 km inside Moldovan territory. 

Russia's war drifted into Romania's Black Sea waters again, and this time the country's military blew the intruders up, acting Defense Minister Radu Miruță said. A vessel near an offshore gas field spotted two floating Russian drones, and army bomb-disposal divers destroyed them. Ukraine confirmed the aircraft were not its own.

A ship raised the alarm

Miruță announced the operation on Facebook, sharing a video. Crews working near the gas platform first noticed the drones in the water. Miruță identified both as Gerberas. A coast guard vessel carrying Romanian army sappers then sailed to the scene. The divers found two uncrewed aircraft adrift, along with several other fragments.

The drones lay in Romania's exclusive economic zone, roughly 90 nautical miles (about 167 km) east of Constanța, Militarnyi reported. Miruță said Romania's Defense Ministry then contacted Kyiv: 

"The Ministry of National Defense contacted the Ukrainian partners, who confirmed the systems do not belong to them."

To protect the shipping route and the work around the platform, the military destroyed the drones in a controlled blast, Suspilne relayed.

Russia designed the Gerbera as a decoy. The cheap foam aircraft forces Ukrainian air defenses to waste time and interceptors, and helps Russian crews locate those defenses. Later, Russia fitted some Gerberas with warheads, turning the decoy into a strike drone. The same model can also carry smaller attack drones or gather intelligence.

The attack on Ukraine

Ukraine's Air Force reported that last night Russia hit Ukraine with an Iskander-M ballistic missile, a Kh-31P anti-radar missile, and Kh-35 guided missiles, plus 138 Shahed-type strike drones — among them jet-powered ones, Gerberas, and Parodiya decoys — fired from several sites inside Russia and from occupied territory. 

The main targets were Sumy Oblast in the northeast and Odesa Oblast, Ukraine's Black Sea coastal region that lies northeast of Romania's shore. By morning, air defenses had downed or suppressed 112 of the drones, though strikes hit 16 locations.

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Adrift far from any front

The drones surfaced far from any battlefield. Russian uncrewed aircraft have repeatedly drifted into neighboring states during Moscow's attacks on Ukraine. Romania itself has shifted from escorting stray drones to shooting them down.

Neptun Deep is Romania's largest offshore gas project, due to start production in 2027. Bucharest is counting on the field to cut its reliance on outside supply and to feed neighbors that still lean on Russia. The two drones drifted into the waters around it.