Ukraine has struck five cargo vessels it says were illegally transporting stolen grain, military supplies and fuel in the Sea of Azov and coastal waters of Russian-occupied territory — as Kyiv simultaneously confirmed one of its own naval drones went off course and exploded at a Romanian port, causing significant damage but no casualties.
The strikes on the five vessels, announced by Ukraine’s drone forces commander Robert Brovdi, targeted ships in the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk as well as in coastal waters of what Ukraine describes as temporarily occupied territories. Brovdi said the ships had their names painted over and their radars switched off “with the aim of quietly stealing Ukrainian grain,” as well as transferring military cargo and fuel. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry confirmed five of its citizens were killed in attacks on two of the vessels — identified as the Nastra and the Circon — though Baku did not attribute responsibility and noted the ships were not Azerbaijani-owned.
The strikes came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his offer of direct face-to-face peace talks with Vladimir Putin — an offer the Russian president rejected on Friday while appearing at an economic forum in St Petersburg, just days after Ukrainian drones had struck the city’s outskirts. Putin said he currently saw “no reason” to meet Zelensky, reiterating his longstanding position that Ukraine must withdraw from the four regions largely occupied by Russia and abandon its bid to join NATO — demands Kyiv has categorically refused, warning that any territorial concession would only embolden further Russian aggression.
In an open letter, Zelensky told Putin it would be “wrong to simply wait” for the war to regain US attention, and called for a full ceasefire for the duration of any proposed negotiations — a precondition Putin had already ruled out. The EU, France and the United States have backed Zelensky’s calls for a meeting. The Kremlin confirmed it had received the letter.
The Romania incident added a further flashpoint to an already volatile week along NATO’s eastern flank. A Ukrainian naval drone exploded near an oil terminal in the Black Sea port of Constanta on Friday, causing considerable damage to a ship and nearby warehouses but no injuries. Ukraine confirmed the drone was one of its own, saying it had been knocked off course by Russian electronic warfare interference. Romanian President Nicusor Dan described it as the second “significant security incident this week,” following the discovery of a stray mine on a beach near Vama Veche. The week prior, two people were injured when a drone struck an apartment block in the Romanian city of Galati — close to the Ukrainian border — in an incident Romanian officials attributed to Russia, though Moscow denied involvement.
Inside Ukraine, at least 13 people were killed and more than 70 injured in the preceding 24 hours, according to local officials. Among the dead were four people killed when Russian drones struck a dairy factory outside Kyiv, and a 35-year-old woman killed in a drone attack on a petrol station in Kherson.
