Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Russian drones struck the civilian vessel Royad Mammadov, which was carrying corn in neutral waters of the Black Sea. The ship’s captain was killed and one other person was unaccounted for; 11 crew members were rescued, one injured. The Turkish-owned vessel, flagged to St Kitts and Nevis with Azerbaijani and Indian nationals aboard, was sailing from the Ukrainian port of Izmail to Ravenna, Italy.
Romanian authorities said the ship caught fire about 30 nautical miles south of the port of Sfantu Gheorghe, inside Romania’s exclusive economic zone but outside its territorial waters, and later sank. Romania did not attribute a cause; Russia had no immediate comment, though its defence ministry said earlier Monday it had struck two cargo vessels.
The attack fits a pattern straining Black Sea trade. Turkey’s Chamber of Maritime Commerce says 226 civilian and commercial vessels have been attacked in the Black Sea since the war began, the vast majority this year, and President Erdogan has called the strikes unacceptable. Kyiv says it has proposed measures to secure navigation; Moscow, Zelensky said, “consistently chooses terror and sinking civilian vessels instead of normal maritime navigation.” Attribution of the drone strike rests on Ukraine’s account.