Drone strikes on two Black Sea tankers leave seven sailors missing

NATO council to convene next week on Black Sea attacks

Seven sailors remained missing after drones struck two tankers inside Romanian territorial waters late Wednesday, setting both vessels ablaze along Romania’s Black Sea coast and prompting NATO to convene a meeting of its governing council next week.

The Wine Trader, a San Marino-flagged tanker traveling from Tunisia to Romania, and the Yara J were both hit by drones, according to Romanian President Nicușor Dan. All crew on the Yara J, which was struck just inside Romanian waters late Wednesday, were safe; the missing crew were from the Wine Trader.

A NATO military source, speaking to Reuters, attributed the strikes to Russia. “The drones that caused the fires on board two tankers inside Romanian territorial waters were of Russian origin,” the source said.

Dan met Thursday in Brussels with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, but declined to assign responsibility directly and instead described a pattern of escalating attacks on the Black Sea.

“Commercial ships are being attacked and sunk,” Dan wrote on X. “Seafarers killed, injured and missing very close to the shores of Romania and Bulgaria. This is unacceptable and it has to stop.”

The two leaders and Rutte agreed “to strengthen our defences in the Black Sea,” Dan said. Rutte said Nato “will continue to work closely with our allies in the Black Sea, adjusting our deterrence and defence posture as needed.” A NATO official said the alliance’s North Atlantic Council would discuss the issue at a meeting next week.

The Romanian tanker strikes followed drone attacks on two ships off Bulgaria’s coast on Tuesday. Eleven crew members of the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship HS Dignity remained missing, while the Ukrainian-operated Chelsea 3, sailing under a Maltese flag, was also struck; all 15 of its crew were evacuated, with five receiving treatment for minor injuries. The crew reported that the ship’s deck and hull were hit by three aerial drones.

“The results of this attack favour Russia. However, we don’t have any solid evidence that the drones are Russians,” Radev said on arriving in Brussels for the EU summit.

At least 23 sailors have been reported missing or killed in attacks on commercial shipping near the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania in the past 10 days, according to Reuters.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels were preparing a draft declaration that would say attacks against civilian shipping, including “member state-flagged vessels, such as the recent attacks in Bulgaria’s and Romania’s exclusive economic zones in the Black Sea,” were “unacceptable and constitute a serious violation of international and maritime law.”

Romania shares a 614-kilometer (381-mile) border with Ukraine, much of it along the Danube River. Romania has experienced frequent drone incursions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, including a daytime encroachment last November that prompted NATO to scramble fighter jets.

Ukraine has increasingly relied on Danube river ports and Black Sea routes off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria to export grain, sunflower oil and other products as Russia has stepped up its bombing of Ukraine’s Black Sea infrastructure.