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NATO Deploys Aircraft, Drones to Black Sea After Ship Attacks
· Confirmed
In Short: NATO is deploying additional patrol aircraft and intelligence personnel to the Black Sea following a series of drone attacks on commercial ships.
NATO is deploying additional patrol aircraft and intelligence personnel to the Black Sea following a series of drone attacks on commercial ships, a spokesman for the alliance said, as reported by Al Jazeera (Qatar) and Kyivindependent (Ukraine).
Al Jazeera (Qatar) reported that at least five cargo vessels were hit near the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria over the previous 10 days, with at least 23 sailors reported missing or dead. Kyivindependent (Ukraine) confirmed that drones struck two commercial vessels off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, resulting in 13 casualties.
Both outlets agreed that NATO is bolstering its presence in the Black Sea with additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, explosive exploitation teams, intelligence personnel, and drones. NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart said in a post on X that the alliance has already strengthened its posture along the eastern flank, including with counter-drone capabilities.
Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a NATO military spokesperson, stated that NATO’s immediate priority is improving situational awareness in the region through additional surveillance equipment and intelligence sharing. O’Donnell said, “The most important thing we can do, however, is to increase our situational awareness in the region through increased sensors and data sharing.”
Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruță said Sunday that the drones appeared to be advanced Russian-made Geran-4 aircraft, as reported by Al Jazeera (Qatar). Romanian fighter jets shot down two high-speed drones over NATO territory this weekend, marking an escalation in the Black Sea crisis, according to Stars and Stripes.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned that the latest strikes were adding to a “perfect storm” facing global food supplies already being battered by droughts in multiple regions and the war in the Middle East. Kallas said, “Six attacks in 10 days by suspected Russian drones marks a dangerous and unacceptable escalation.”
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova said in a statement that Bulgaria was seeking more support from NATO and the European Union. Petrova did not specify the number of casualties but denounced the strike as “an unacceptable attack in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone” and “a blatant violation of international law and maritime law.”
Inews (United Kingdom) reported that over the past year, the Royal Navy was called out 116 times to shadow Russian warships and merchant vessels in the waters around the United Kingdom, tracking 61 warships in all.
Despite the differing details, all outlets agreed that NATO is taking significant steps to enhance its security posture in the Black Sea region in response to the recent drone attacks on commercial ships.
Background
NATO is bolstering its presence in the Black Sea with additional patrol aircraft and intelligence personnel, a spokesman for the alliance announced, in response to a series of deadly drone attacks in the region.
The targets were identified as jet-powered attack drones from the Geran family, which Russia uses in its war against Ukraine.
What's confirmed
- “NATO has already strengthened our posture along the eastern flank, including with counter-drone capabilities,” spokeswoman Allison Hart said earlier in a post on X.
- “Allies have or will send additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, explosive exploitation teams, intelligence personnel, drones and more to the Black Sea,” said Colonel Martin O’Donnell on Tuesday.
- The announcement came after NATO’s main decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, discussed security in the Black Sea at the alliance’s Brussels headquarters.
- In an attack on October 5, Romania reported two people dead after their ship caught fire and sank in Black Sea waters.
- 13, drones struck two commercial vessels off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.
- Two alert-duty fighters scrambled from Borcea’s 86th Air Base after Romanian radar systems detected aerial targets over the Black Sea.
- Romania’s Defense Ministry said F-16s on NATO air policing duty downed two drones over its Black Sea waters Saturday, each within minutes of entry. 2.
What's still developing
- NATO members must increase the alliance’s military capabilities, position additional forces in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, establish a maritime force in the Black Sea and bolster its presence in the Arctic, all to counter Russia’s growing military strength and increasingly belligerent behavior toward its neighbors, the Atlantic Council said in a new report.
- Ankara has tacitly allowed Russia to use civilian ships to continue to supply its forces in Syria and a fleet of civilian ships that use deceptive practices to illegally export plundered Ukrainian commodities to the world.
- “We condemn the attack earlier today on a Panama-flagged commercial vessel, MT On Peace, off the coast of Oman, where it was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the MEA said in a statement.
- In brief: Russian attacks in the Black Sea are taking advantage of a deep reluctance on NATO’s part to confront the very threat it was designed to contain.
- Radev said a Ukrainian-owned ship was “hit by three aerial drones”, and shortly afterwards another ship was hit and sank.
- Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the incident was serious but not surprising, describing it as part of a pattern in which Russia has intensified its so-called hybrid campaign against the European Union and NATO.
- A commercial ship sank and its crew vanished Tuesday after an apparent coordinated air-and-sea drone attack off NATO member Bulgaria, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russia before warning Moscow was preparing a broader "massive strike."
- Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Radev said the ships were attacked by sea drones and aerial drones at about 3am (00:00 GMT), about 70 nautical miles (130km) off Bulgaria’s coast, amid a rise in attacks on Black Sea shipping due to expanding drone attacks related to the Russia-Ukraine war.
- Despite flying different combat jets, “we work like the French, we understand each other perfectly,” said Romanian Lieutenant Colonel and pilot Lucian Tatulea.
- Amnesty International’s investigation from October last year into the migrant detention center said the attack killed and injured “dozens” of African migrants, adding that “many” of the migrants were held by Houthis “solely for their irregular immigration status” and the incident should be probed as a war crime.