NATO is deploying additional patrol aircraft and intelligence personnel to the Black Sea after a series of drone attacks that left multiple people dead and injured in the region, according to the alliance's spokesperson. The incidents have been widely blamed on Russia, though the Kremlin denies responsibility.
Speaking on Tuesday, Colonel Martin O'Donnell said: "Allied nations have sent or will send additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, explosive ordnance collection and analysis teams, intelligence personnel, UAVs and other assets to the Black Sea." He stressed: "However, the most important thing we can do is improve situational awareness in the region by boosting sensors and data sharing."
NATO, along with Bulgaria and Romania, has not directly attributed the recent wave of attacks to any country. Military analysts assess that Russia almost certainly carried out the strikes, but Moscow has not claimed responsibility.
In one attack on October 5, Romania recorded two deaths after one of its vessels caught fire and sank in Black Sea waters. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of being responsible.
The announcement came after NATO's main decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, discussed Black Sea security at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
Earlier, spokesperson Allison Hart wrote on X that "NATO has strengthened its posture along the eastern flank, including counter-UAV capabilities."
A dangerous and unacceptable escalation
The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on Tuesday that "six attacks in 10 days by suspected Russian UAVs are a dangerous and unacceptable escalation," adding that the Kremlin may be seeking to choke off Kyiv's grain export revenues.
Kallas warned that the latest attacks are contributing to a "perfect storm" for global food supplies, already strained by drought in many regions and war in the Middle East.
Last week, seven sailors were reported missing after drones struck two chemical tankers near Romania's Black Sea coast, setting the vessels ablaze and raising new security concerns along a vital shipping route used by Ukraine.
At least five other cargo ships were also attacked off the coasts of Romania and neighbouring NATO member Bulgaria in the preceding 10 days, with at least 23 sailors reported missing or killed.
