Sulina: Quiet River Town Living Under the Shadow Of Drone Strikes — Resilience At Romania’s Edge

When drones strayed over the Danube and crashed on Romanian soil, shop owner Roxana Saraev felt a sharp unease. From her colourful jewellery shop at Sulina, Romania’s easternmost town, the 32-year-old is nevertheless resolute: she will not leave the place she calls an “oasis of tranquility.”

Accessible only by river, Sulina looked peaceful when AFP visited in May — no air-raid sirens, no explosions. Still, the nearby war in Ukraine casts a persistent shadow. Residents report moments of fear: kayak guide Cătălin Cosma recalled watching drones strike the Ukrainian river port of Vylkove opposite Sulina. “It was terrifying,” he said. “There was nowhere to go. Nothing you could do.”

Drone Incidents And Local Anxiety

Romanian defence ministry figures show 28 airspace breaches and 47 drone crashes in the four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The most serious recent episode occurred on May 29, when a drone that NATO identified as Russian hit a residential block in Galaț, about 150 km north of Sulina, injuring a woman and her teenage son. Local officials and residents have called for faster deployment of anti-drone systems and better detection.

Coastguard spokesman Andrei Ene says crews and locals have increasingly found metal debris believed to be drone parts floating at sea or washed ashore. Romania passed a law in 2025 permitting authorities to shoot down hostile drones, but so far the power has not been used. NATO has said it is working to strengthen detection and interception capabilities in coordination with Bucharest.

Ships, Trade And A Push To Revive The Port

After the closure of Ukrainian Black Sea ports in 2022, Kyiv rerouted much grain traffic along the Danube, briefly boosting Sulina’s strategic importance. Traffic through the Sulina Channel rose from roughly 1,800 vessels before the war to nearly 4,300 in 2023, then eased to about 2,700 in 2025 once a Black Sea corridor reopened.

A 24-million-euro, EU-partly funded dredging project is underway to deepen Sulina’s basin and modernise the quay. Officials hope the work will enable ships to unload in Sulina, transfer cargo, and eventually handle as much as 15 million tonnes of freight a year. The improvements also include more ship pilots, better escort equipment and illuminated buoys with automatic identification systems, allowing safer night navigation on the channel.

Life Goes On

Despite empty stretches of quay and abandoned buildings such as an old shipyard and a fish-canning factory, Sulina’s waterfront shows signs of life. Tourism — a mainstay alongside fishing — continues to draw visitors to the Danube Delta for its abundant birdlife: pelicans, herons, cormorants, terns and storks. In May and June, locals reported steady tourist arrivals and a lively port area, even as some residents voice frustration over delays in strengthening air-defence and anti-drone systems.

“We are putting Sulina back on the map of Europe,” said Dragoș Ioniță, director of the Sulina Free Zone Administration, emphasising the port’s potential role in supporting Ukrainian trade.

For now, most residents — including Roxana Saraev — are choosing to stay, balancing daily life and local entrepreneurship with the anxiety of living near an active conflict zone. Authorities and NATO say improvements to detection and interception are a priority as drone incidents continue to pose a security and public-safety challenge.