As I write, two of my nation’s F-16s have just shot down two jet-powered drones that had entered Romanian airspace over the Black Sea. Our pilots did not hesitate.
Here is why.
On Oct. 14, at 8:16 p.m., Romanian naval authorities at Sulina received a request for assistance from the Comoros-flagged vessel Yara J, which had been struck by drones. Within minutes, the Romanian Coast Guard’s search-and-rescue vessel Apollo was leaving the port of Sulina to assist the ship and her crew.
A few hours later, in the early morning of Oct. 15, the chemical tanker Wine Trader sent out a distress signal and reported a fire on board, again following a drone attack. Two Romanian assistance vessels promptly put to sea to render aid. Five crew members, including the captain, were lifted aboard the 275 Black Hawk helicopter of the Romanian Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, while a rescue vessel continued the search for the seven missing crew members.
These two serious maritime incidents, occurring less than 24 hours apart, are not isolated. In the same month of October, they were preceded by the attack on the Royad Mammadov, struck and sunk near Romania’s territorial waters, and by the sinking of the Alfa Watan off Bulgaria’s territorial waters, following an attack with maritime and aerial drones. These instances, and the attacks that have followed, are proof that Russia’s war against Ukraine has entered a dangerous phase of escalation.
Since the invasion of Ukraine began, several hundred serious incidents of this kind have been recorded in the Black Sea. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Black Sea went from an area of economic cooperation and trade to one of the most volatile geopolitical zones on the globe.
Although all littoral states are affected, directly or indirectly, it has become clear that Romania is the country most exposed to the collateral effects of the war, holding the western shore of the Black Sea, where the war’s spillover is now felt most directly.
After four years of war, we find that Romania is affected by the full spectrum of the hybrid war waged by the Russian Federation against NATO and the EU: cyberattacks, sabotage, incursions by aerial and maritime drones, provocations, and information threat campaigns, to name but a few instances.
How has Romania responded? First of all, it has kept its composure and continues to strengthen itself, understanding that its actions matter to all allies. Romania holds firm, defends itself, and deters the expansion of the war and the possibility of drawing NATO into a conflict of potentially devastating scale. Romania is consolidating the NATO Alliance’s frontier in its most exposed sector: the western shore of the Black Sea.
Romania’s attitude—one of resolve and responsibility—should surprise no one. We Romanians were among the first to deliver on commitments to increase military spending; we have supported Ukraine, hoping to keep the conflict at a distance and to help bring it to an end; we have strengthened ourselves militarily through the acquisition of modern equipment, most often American; we were among the first to understand that Europe’s defense is first and foremost Europeans’ own responsibility; we have recognized that the unity of the free world rests on a solid transatlantic bond, an expression of the values of Western civilization and a guarantee of global stability.
Romania is safer today thanks to its alliance with the United States. NATO, too, is stronger through the work of the Romanian-American partnership.
The presence of American troops at the Romanian bases of Mihail Kogălniceanu, Câmpia Turzii, and Deveselu deters Russia, keeps the war away from allied territory, and reduces the risk of a wider confrontation. Romania’s investments of billions of dollars in military bases, and its full political alignment, have enabled the United States to project force and pursue its interests in theaters of strategic importance: the Black Sea, Ukraine and the Caucasus, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury are only the most recent demonstrations of the added value Romania brings to the United States.
The recent drone incidents in the Black Sea show that the new circumstances call for raising the level of ambition of the strategic relationship between Romania and the United States. Romania is ready, and it has proven it. It will continue to invest in capabilities, bases, and training grounds. It will remain politically and strategically aligned. It will take on greater responsibilities and costs so that a reinforced American presence in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea becomes strategically more useful and less costly. This is to the benefit of the United States, Romania itself, and the entire free world.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
