Nato source says drones came from Russia, while Romania’s president says attacking commercial ships ‘is unacceptable and has to stop’

Seven sailors are missing after drones struck two tankers near Romania’s Black Sea ⁠coast, setting them ablaze and raising ⁠fresh security concerns on a ​vital shipping route used by Ukraine.

A Nato military source told Reuters the drones that had hit the Wine Trader and the Yara J came from Russia. “The drones that caused ⁠the fires on board two tankers inside Romanian territorial waters were of Russian origin,” the source said.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: ARSVOM/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: ARSVOM/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: ARSVOM/AFP/Getty Images

Rescuers were searching for seven missing crew on Thursday from one of two chemical tankers that caught fire overnight just outside Romanian territorial waters in the Black Sea, after Russian drones strayed into national airspace, Romanian officials said.

Romanian authorities opened an investigation into the possibility of a drone strike on one of the tankers, after drones violated the country's airspace overnight.

Two tankers caught fire within about 12 hours off Sulina, Romania’s port at the mouth of the Danube, Romanian authorities reported. The crew of one said a drone hit it inside Romania’s territorial waters, while Bucharest says it is still checking whether drones were involved. Bulgaria, where drones sank ships in its economic zone this month, says it lacks proof that Russia launched them.

For months, Russia has struck civilian ships on the sea route that carries most of Ukraine’s farm exports, while its drones have repeatedly crossed into Moldova and Romania during attacks on Ukraine. As long as Bucharest and Sofia wait for drone wreckage before naming anyone, Russia, the party Bulgaria’s own prime minister says the logic points to, pays no price for extending its war on Ukraine’s trade routes into NATO members’ waters.

Seven sailors missing after the second fire

The San Marino-flagged chemical tanker Wine Trader reported a fire in its superstructure around 07:00 on 15 October while anchored in Romanian territorial waters about 13 nautical miles southeast of Sulina, Romania’s Naval Authority said. By midday, five of its 12 crew had been recovered and seven were still missing.

Hours earlier, at 01:34, a drone entered Romanian airspace over the country’s waters southeast of Sulina for about a minute before vanishing from radar, the Defense Ministry said. Authorities have not named a cause for the fire, though unnamed sources