Zelenskyy says Russian drones hit a vessel carrying corn in Black Sea, 2 dead

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian drone attack caused a fire on board a commercial vessel that later sank in the Black Sea on Monday.

Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued, Romanian authorities said.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy described the attack as “a horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel” in neutral waters. He said the vessel was Turkish-owned and carrying corn.

Russia did not immediately comment on the incident.

Romania’s Coast Guard was alerted at around 11 a.m. local time, the Interior Ministry said. The vessel was in Romania ’s exclusive economic zone, about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) south of Sfantul Gheorghe in Tulcea County.

The ministry did not identify the cause of the fire. Romanian news channels reported that the ship was a Turkish vessel carrying grain and had been struck by a drone southeast of a Black Sea oil platform. Authorities did not confirm those reports.

Romania’s Naval Authority said the incident involved a fire on a vessel called the Royad Mammadov. The shipping website MarineTraffic shows the general cargo ship as being flagged to Saint Kitts and Nevis. It had departed Ukraine’s port of Izmail and was destined for Italy, according to the website.

“Eleven crew members have been rescued. Two deceased individuals have also been located,” the ministry said, adding that a helicopter had airlifted injured people using a winch so they could receive emergency medical care.

Zelenskyy said Azerbaijani and Indian nationals were aboard the vessel. He said the captain had died and the fate of one crew member was still being determined.

“Ukraine has repeatedly proposed concrete steps to de-escalate the situation and ensure security in the Black Sea. There have also been relevant proposals from third countries,” he said. “But Russia consistently chooses terror and sinking civilian vessels instead of normal maritime navigation.”

The Black Sea is a major commercial shipping route and has faced heightened security concerns since Moscow launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in 2022.

Romania deployed two F-16 fighter jets to destroy a naval drone that was carrying explosives and was spotted near the Neptun Deep gas platform in August. The country’s navy has destroyed nine drifting sea mines in the Black Sea since the war started, according to the Ministry of National Defense.