Black Sea security at risk after Russian attack: Romanian president

BUCHARESR (AFP): Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis on Monday warned that security in the Black Sea was at risk after Russia hit Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube river at the border with the NATO member.

Amateur footage posted on social media by a Romanian showed an explosion just across a river, as drones appeared to hit the Ukrainian port of Reni on the Danube.

Ukrainian officials reported a four-hour Russian drone attack on port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region.

Reni is a Ukrainian port town where the Danube forms a natural frontier with Romania, while also situated just a few kilometres from the Moldovan border.

“I strongly condemn the recent Russian attacks against the Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on (the) Danube, very close to Romania,” Iohannis wrote on Twitter.

“This recent escalation poses serious risks to the security in the Black Sea. It also affects further Ukrainian grain transit, thus the global food security,” he added.

The Danube delta region, which spans across Romania and Ukraine, is being used as an export route for Ukrainian grain.

Russia last week pulled out of a key deal which had allowed the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

Since then Kyiv has accused Russia of targeting grain supplies and infrastructure vital to exports.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a large amount of Ukrainian grain exports have been shipped through Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu on Monday called on Russia to stop air strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure.

“Romania will continue to support Ukraine in identifying practical solutions for further grain exports to global markets,” he added in a press release.