Drones strike two tankers in Romanian territorial waters

Seven sailors are missing after drones struck two tankers off Romania's Black Sea coast, setting both ablaze. The Wine Trader, a San Marino-flagged tanker sailing from Tunisia to Romania, lost the seven; the Yara J, hit just inside Romanian waters late on Wednesday, kept its entire crew. A Nato military source told Reuters the drones that caused the fires were of Russian origin.

Romania's president Nicușor Dan met Bulgaria's prime minister Rumen Radev and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte in Brussels on Thursday, and the three agreed to strengthen defences in the Black Sea. Rutte said the alliance would "adjust our deterrence and defence posture as needed," and a Nato official said the tanker strikes would be discussed at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council next week. Dan called the situation unacceptable: commercial ships attacked and sunk, seafarers killed, injured and missing "very close to the shores of Romania and Bulgaria."

The strikes are the second such incident this week. On Tuesday, drones hit two ships off Bulgaria: eleven crew members of the HS Dignity, a cargo ship sailing under a Guinea-Bissau flag, are still missing, while all fifteen aboard the Ukrainian-operated, Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3 were evacuated, five with minor injuries, after the crew reported the deck and hull struck by three aerial drones. By Reuters' count, at least 23 sailors have been killed or gone missing in attacks on commercial shipping off the Bulgarian and Romanian coasts in the past ten days.

Public statements have been more careful than the private attribution. Radev, arriving in Brussels for an EU summit: "The results of this attack favour Russia. However, we don't have any solid evidence that the drones are Russians." Dan said the two ships had been struck by drones but declined to say whether Russia was responsible.

The attacks follow a stepped-up Russian bombing campaign against Ukraine's Black Sea infrastructure, which has pushed Kyiv's grain, sunflower oil and other exports onto Danube river ports and Black Sea routes hugging the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria. EU leaders at the summit are set to declare attacks on 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" — unacceptable and "a serious violation of international and maritime law."

Romania shares a 614km border with Ukraine, much of it along the Danube, and has recorded frequent drone incursions since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022; a daytime violation of Romanian airspace last November sent Nato fighter jets scrambling.

The North Atlantic Council takes up the strikes next week. The Wine Trader's seven crew members remain missing.