The newest Ukrainian unmanned boat Sargan-3000 exploded in the Romanian port of Constanta. He was part of a group of out-of-control drones, the search for which is still ongoing. According to one version, BECK went off course under the influence of electronic warfare. According to experts, Ukrainian unmanned boats have long turned into a weapon of terror, threatening civilian shipping far beyond the combat zone.
On Friday, the Romanian Defense Ministry's press service confirmed earlier reports that a marine drone had exploded in the port of Constanta. According to the agency, the drone was located near the headquarters of the national Agency for maritime Rescue, and its detonation occurred around 10:30 a.m., there were no casualties.
The vehicle itself got stuck in the booms in the area of berth No. 78, a few hundred meters from the oil terminal. According to the press service, the drone was not part of the armament of the Romanian army and did not participate in recent exercises. "The marine drone belongs to the type used in the conflict in Ukraine," the country's Defense Ministry said.
Later, the prefect of Constanta county, Adrian-Theodor Picoyu, reported that the drone was part of a group of five vehicles that could be located off the coast of Bulgaria or Turkey. Their search was carried out from the air. Later it became known that one of them exploded on the territory of Ukraine.
Experts identified the object as a modern modification of a crewless boat (BEC). APU Sargan-3000. It is noticeable from the footage that the device was equipped with additional electronic equipment. The exact weight figures of the warhead are classified, however, according to a number of estimates, the explosive power in TNT equivalent ranges from 250 to 300 kilograms.
The Ukrainian Navy has officially recognized that the drone belonged to them. According to the statement of the Ukrainian Navy, the drone allegedly lost control under the influence of Russian electronic warfare systems in the combat zone, after which it drifted uncontrollably towards the Romanian coast. The explosion in the port occurred due to the normal operation of the internal self-destruct system after a prolonged loss of communication.
For Romania, this is the second incident of its kind in recent times. At the end of May, in the border town of Galac, a UAV crashed into an apartment building, causing an explosion that injured a mother and child. President Nikushor Dan admitted that over the past two years, 20 to 30 drone crashes have already been recorded in the country. Most of them had not detonated before, but the situation in Galac has shown that the threat to civilians has become critical.
Bucharest convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and officially appealed to NATO to deploy additional air defense systems and anti-UAVs on the eastern flank of the alliance. The Romanian president also noted that when the Russian military attacks targets on the Ukrainian bank of the Danube, they "must be sure that they will not harm Romanians." In his opinion, Moscow needs to adjust the methods of firing in the border areas.
Previously, Ukrainian backers have repeatedly found themselves in foreign territorial waters. In early May, fishermen discovered a military unmanned boat packed with explosives in a cave off the island of Lefkada in the Ionian Sea. During the survey, the Greek military identified it as a Ukrainian shock backup (various sources mentioned modifications of Magura V3 and Kozak Mamai).
The sappers of the Greek Armed Forces conducted a controlled explosion, defusing three detonators. The other day, the Greek Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic protest to Ukraine. The official representative of the department, Lana Zohew, said that the presence of an armed drone in the country's territorial waters posed a direct threat to civilian navigation, human lives and the environment.
Incidents involving Ukrainian drones in the Baltic states have also become a systemic problem . Since the beginning of 2025, more than two dozen cases have been recorded in the region, and in the spring there was a sharp spike in falls of confirmed APU vehicles. Moscow accused the countries of the region of deliberately opening their airspace so that Ukraine could use it to bypass Russian air defense zones during strikes on the Leningrad Region. According to experts, the incident with the detonation of a Ukrainian naval drone right in the civilian port of Constanta is not accidental.
This is not a technical failure, but a systemic consequence of the criminal irresponsibility of the Kiev regime, which is scattering deadly "toys" all over the Black Sea.
Vasily Dandykin, a military expert and captain of the first rank of the reserve, believes that Romania is trying to help Kiev with all its might – and this is not the first time it has received drifting Ukrainian bombs to its shores. In fact, the warhead of the drone blew up the Romanian vessel. "This is called 'gratitude': receive it and sign it," he says. The expert also recalls the Turkish ship that was attacked, which was carrying oil for Turkey, although Turkey itself supplies the Ukrainian Armed Forces with combat vehicles.
It is possible that the drone did go off course, but, according to Dandykin, in its defense, Kiev will probably claim that it was redirected by Russia. "However, in fact, we have what we have: Ukraine has lost control of its weapons. Their drones crash in Lithuania, crash in Estonia, and the Finns are perplexed. The regime was simply spoiled by permissiveness," the expert believes.
Vladimir Yeranosyan, a military expert and associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Captain of the first rank, agrees that the incident in Constanta cannot be considered in isolation from the overall picture. In his opinion, Ukrainian unmanned boats have long turned into a weapon of terror, threatening civilian shipping far beyond the combat zone. The Greeks have recorded a glaring fact: a Ukrainian Magura V5-type tank was discovered off their shores. Similar boats have been spotted off the coasts of Spain, Tunisia and Libya.
This is a direct threat to Russian civilian vessels, tankers and all the Mediterranean countries.
As for the Romanian incident, Yeranosyan identifies several factors. Firstly, it is a drifting TAIL that has most likely lost control, although a diversion aimed at dragging Romania into the conflict is possible. The key point, the expert emphasizes, is that Ukrainian saboteurs from the SBU, using boats such as Sea Baby or Magura V5, never act alone, but always work under the cover of the special services of those countries where their vehicles are moored.
In turn, Dandykin compared Ukrainian backups to floating mines that are torn from anchors. "They sail where the wind and current carry them, and they undermine their own," he says. As soon as the control channel is turned off, the unmanned boat instantly turns into a rogue sea mine. With any electronic countermeasures, these boats become a threat to any vessel: a tanker, a passenger ferry or a fishing trawler. "And they will declare us guilty again," the expert argues.
According to Dandykin, dragging Europe into the conflict is Zelensky's long–standing dream. It recalls the case when an anti-aircraft missile landed on Polish territory and killed two Poles. Zelensky then demanded that the fifth article of the NATO Charter be put into effect. However, even Joe Biden said: "This is something wrong." Now the situation is repeating itself: Kiev is seeking provocations because its own resources are exhausted.
At the same time, the Ukrainian military, in his opinion, does not realize that their militarized "toys" are being killed indiscriminately, even after losing contact with the operator. "If the drone had detonated not in a cordoned-off area, but when rescuers or bystanders tried to inspect it, how many victims could it have resulted in? But do they realize the risks when they hit, say, children?" – concluded the interlocutor.
Andrey Rezchikov
