Romanian President Nicușor Dan has said the Black Sea would only become safe after Russia’s war in Ukraine ends, as he called for greater NATO oversight in the region following drone strikes on commercial vessels in an interview with Euronews.
“I’m very optimistic that we’ll have the support and the capabilities in order to be better protected, because it’s an important economic question for Ukraine and for the whole region,” he said on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels held Friday.
The Romanian leader said frequent drone incursions into his country’s territory had begun roughly a year and a half ago, and that Bucharest had been “not prepared”. The country now faces a similar lack of preparedness to its east, Dan said.
“At the Black Sea, we are in the same situation,” he said, adding: “We have to protect the water under our territory.”
He also expressed confidence in continued support from US President Donald Trump, both for security in the Black Sea and for Romania’s position within the NATO military alliance.
“On defence, I think it’s a mutual benefit between us because we have an excellent position to project force towards other parts of the world,” Dan said.
The confidence comes amid bellicose statements from US President Donald Trump regarding Ukrainian and European security, such as troop cuts and a force posture review.
The president was in the Belgian capital for a quarterly summit attended by EU heads of state to discuss support for Ukraine, the bloc’s long-term budget and its growing trade deficit with China.
However, the increasingly hostile security situation in the Black Sea pushed the Romanian leader and his Bulgarian counterpart, Prime Minister Rumen Radev, to bring security threats higher up the agenda.
Dan told reporters after the summit that France had pledged “necessary equipment” and to “better understand our specific requirements in the Black Sea”.
“There are always new challenges, but fortunately, Romania has allies,” he said.
The escalating situation also prompted a meeting between the two leaders and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to discuss stronger support. Bulgaria requested combat aircraft and anti-drone systems during the talks.
Rutte said afterwards that NATO would continue to strengthen its posture along the eastern flank, including by expanding its counter-drone capabilities.
“NATO will continue to work closely with our allies in the Black Sea, adjusting our deterrence and defence posture as needed,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports along the Black Sea and the Danube River, leaving the war-torn country dependent on alternative routes to sell its grain to African and Middle Eastern markets.
However, this has exposed Europe’s shipping lanes to attacks.
Drones have damaged commercial vessels in the Black Sea off the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania for three consecutive days leading up to the meeting in Brussels, as well as during the previous week. At least one vessel sank after being attacked by drones last week, killing two seafarers.
Neither Sofia nor Bucharest has definitively blamed Russia for the attacks. However, Radev told reporters earlier in the week that “logic” would suggest the Kremlin stood to benefit from the deadly incursions.
“The problem is that we cannot prove it,” he said.
Investigations into all the incidents are ongoing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a press conference after meeting European leaders on Thursday that “you do not need a ground war for an invasion to occur”.
He added that Russia was testing Europe’s response to the attacks, referring to incidents in the Black Sea as well as an explosive-laden drone found at an airport in Leipzig.
“Violating another country's airspace is already an incursion,” Zelenskyy said.
“We have seen drones cross airspace and borders in Romania, Poland and Germany. A corresponding drone was found in Germany, by the way. Moldova and Bulgaria have also been affected. A great deal is happening today.”
Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials have publicly blamed Russia for some of these incidents, most notably a deadly drone attack that struck a vessel carrying Ukrainian grain off the Bulgarian coast.