Romania destroys suspected Ukrainian unmanned boat

Romanian military destroys Ukrainian-made Sea Baby unmanned boat, but Kyiv asserts no vehicles lost.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense announced that an unmanned surface vessel (USV) was discovered on 3/12, approximately 66 km east of Constanta. A disposal team was ordered to neutralize the USV and destroyed it with explosives that same afternoon.

A spokesperson for the Romanian Ministry of Defense declined to specify the USV's operator but confirmed it was a Sea Baby model, developed and manufactured by Ukraine. The Sea Baby is 6 m long, has a top speed of 90 km/h, a range of up to 1,000 km, and costs approximately USD 240,000 per unit.

Romanian military destroys Sea Baby unmanned boat in the Black Sea on 3/12. Video: Reuters

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which operates the Sea Baby, subsequently asserted that all USVs operating in the Black Sea had been accounted for, with none reported lost. The SBU stressed that no Ukrainian USVs had entered the waters off Romania.

This incident follows a series of attacks on Russian-linked oil tankers in the Black Sea, some of which Ukraine has claimed responsibility for. According to a source at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the issue of safety in the Black Sea with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after Ankara expressed concerns about the series of oil tanker attacks there.

After the conflict in Ukraine erupted in 2/2022, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey formed a task force to address drifting sea mines in the Black Sea. The Romanian Navy reported discovering and destroying approximately 150 sea mines.