Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a Russian drone attack on a cargo ship carrying corn in the Black Sea, which he said killed the vessel’s captain. Romanian authorities, who led the rescue, said two people had died and 11 crew members from Azerbaijan and India had been saved.
Romania’s interior ministry said its coast guard was alerted at about 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday to a fire aboard the Royad Mammadov, a commercial vessel inside Romania’s exclusive economic zone. The ship later sank about 30 nautical miles south of the port of Sfantu Gheorghe. Zelensky said the ship was Turkish-owned, was sailing in neutral waters and was hit by two drones, and that another sailor was still unaccounted for.
Moscow has not commented on the incident, although Russia’s defence ministry said earlier that it had struck two cargo vessels. Zelensky said Ukraine and other countries had put forward concrete proposals to make shipping in the Black Sea safer, and called for international pressure on Russia to restore global food security.
The attack comes as both sides escalate. Russia says its strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure are retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries and ships in the Black Sea, and on Sunday its defence ministry said it would step up strikes after Zelensky said Kyiv would increase its attacks on refineries. Ukraine says it targets oil facilities because they help finance the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. President Vladimir Putin acknowledged last week that Kyiv had “got some results” and that Russia had lost about 1% of its GDP.
European governments are also on alert. Allies of Ukraine have reported a rise in hybrid warfare incidents blamed on Russia, especially in Poland and the Baltic states. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last week that Germany was preparing for further hybrid attacks after a drone carrying explosives was found in August on the tarmac at Leipzig airport near Ukrainian cargo planes. On Monday the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, Martin Jaeger, warned that Germany risked being drawn into a violent conflict with Russia.
