Russian Drones Sink a Turkish-Owned Grain Ship in the Black Sea
Two drones struck the Royad Mammadov, a Turkish-owned vessel carrying corn, which sank about thirty nautical miles south of the Romanian port of Sfantu Gheorghe, inside Romania’s exclusive economic zone. Eleven crew, nationals of Azerbaijan and India, were rescued. Volodymyr Zelensky said the captain was killed and called the attack “horrific”; Romania’s interior ministry has identified two dead.
“Russia consistently chooses terror and sinking civilian vessels instead of normal maritime navigation,” Mr Zelensky said, noting he had repeatedly proposed steps to de-escalate in the Black Sea, and arguing that “pressure is needed to restore global food security”. Moscow has not commented on this ship, though its defence ministry said earlier that it had struck two cargo vessels. The casualty accounts do not yet agree: Kyiv describes a captain killed and one sailor unaccounted for, Bucharest two bodies identified. What makes it more than a shipping incident is the geography — a NATO member’s vessel sunk inside an EU member’s economic zone — and the timing. The head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, Martin Jaeger, warned on the same day that Germany “is in danger of becoming embroiled in a violent conflict with Russia”, which he said was waging a shadow war, with the threat of attacks on German targets “real and imminent”. Friedrich Merz said last week that Germany was preparing for further hybrid attacks “including serious ones”, after an explosive-armed drone was found in August on the tarmac at Leipzig airport beside Ukrainian cargo aircraft. Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it would intensify its strikes. Watch Ankara’s response.