A vacation like no other is coming to an end. Imagine that five years ago, someone came to you and showed you a picture of tourists on vacation in Mangalia, struggling to pull out of the blue waters of the sea a strange, torn object resembling a small unmanned aircraft.
The person would have told you that scene is from the near future, and the device is a drone. There were many chances that you would have been told that the person had lost their mind, the whole story being the product of a deranged imagination.
Unfortunately, today we all live in that picture that would have seemed unreal five years ago, and we are trying to survive.
In the last month, at least three cases have been reported where Romanian tourists on vacation on the Black Sea coast have retrieved fragments and large pieces of drones from the water.
In 2026, according to data published by the Ministry of Defense, over 30 drone fragments have been identified on the territory of Romania, lifted and neutralized by specialized military personnel in such operations.
Russia attacked and invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Four and a half years have passed since then, and the nature of the war has fundamentally changed not only in the border conflict, but worldwide.
Aerial, maritime, and land drones, meaning unmanned aerial vehicles, ships, and vehicles, have replaced some of the planes, vessels, and tanks on the battlefronts.
Romania, as well as the other states in the vicinity of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, are increasingly suffering due to the frequent violations of airspace, land, and maritime borders by a growing number of Kremlin drones.
Alerts from the cities of Tulcea, Galați, Brăila, as well as those from the Black Sea coast, are part of daily life, with people's lives being increasingly endangered.
Russia's Attack on Ukrainian Ports
"The drones that reach Romania are of two types: aerial and maritime. The ones that arrive in Romania by air, in a vast majority, are drones that have either been hit and lost direction, so to speak, by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense, or have had faulty system operations, probably due to electronic jamming measures," explained General Dan Grecu in an interview with Spotmedia.ro, the main reason why drones and drone remnants increasingly end up on Romanian territory.
"...I do not exclude that there are also a number of non-lethal drones, sent by the Russians for the purpose of gathering information from the Eastern NATO flank countries," the retired general added.
"What we see happening today in northern Dobrogea is due to the intensification of actions against Ukrainian ports, because Odesa is a closed port, Chornomorsk is almost closed, and the Ukrainian ports on the Chilia arm, from Ismail, on the other side, through which, on the corridor secured towards us and the Bulgarians, through our territorial waters, the Ukrainians can continue the export of cereals," General Dan Grecu further stated.
It should be noted that the functioning of the Ukrainian economy depends on the export of cereals. There are experts who believe that a disruption of these massive wheat transports can cause a global food crisis, including the spread of famine in overpopulated and vulnerable areas lacking access to cheap bread.
Debris Adrift
"...except for that drone near the Neptun Deep gas extraction platform, which, in my opinion, was 99% a drone that drifted due to jamming, those that appear on the coast, in Eforie, in Costinești, even in the port of Tomis, are actually remnants of drones that have been mostly neutralized.
The evidence for this is that no explosive was found, but a wing, an engine, fragments, and remnants of military actions from the mouths of the Danube and the Black Sea," General Dan Grecu further explained.
Another cause of the unprecedented increase in the number of drone alerts is related to the intensification of the war in the Black Sea. Earlier this summer, Ukrainian forces destroyed dozens of tankers from Russia's phantom fleet. In response, the Kremlin attacked commercial ships under various flags, carrying goods from Ukraine.
General Dan Grecu claims that there is also a cumulative effect of the battles in the Black Sea. With an increasing use of aerial and maritime drones in the conflict, a greater proportion of fragments of destroyed unmanned aircraft and vessels end up on shore.
Russia, Interested in What Happens in Romania
"I don't believe that, at this moment, Romania is a target of attack by the Russian Federation, even in the face of this intensification of drone presence in the area...," stated General Dan Grecu for Spotmedia.ro.
"Equally, I do not exclude that the Russian Federation is interested in what happens in Romania and, consequently, will act with spy drones, on the one hand, but also with some sent provocatively to our country to keep us under pressure and, why not, to help some here who are somewhat favorable to the Russian Federation," added the officer.
With September, the number of tourists on the coast begins to decrease, and with it, the number of incidents with drones and drone fragments retrieved from the water by unconscious tourists. But this does not mean that the population, especially in the southeast of the country, will not continue to suffer from the incursions of Kremlin drones on Romanian territory.