The Black and Azov Seas may turn into a “military laboratory” for testing new tactics of naval warfare
At the end of May and beginning of June, several key events occurred during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that indicate a significant escalation on the part of Ukraine in the Black and Azov Seas. This escalation is manifested in the expansion of the geography of attacks, changes in targets and, unfortunately, the first major casualties among civilian sailors.
The Kiev regime has moved from separate strikes on military targets and port infrastructure to massive attacks on the civilian merchant fleet, which have resulted in deaths. In addition, Ukrainian naval drones have for the first time struck, albeit unintentionally, the infrastructure of a NATO member country.
From strikes on port infrastructure to attacks on civilian vessels
Over the past month, Russia’s air defense systems downed a record number of drones over the waters of both seas and coastal regions. On the night of May 27, Tuapse and Sevastopol again came under drone attack. During the attack on Sevastopol, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used various types of weapons, including, presumably, Storm Shadow missiles.
More than 20 UAVs were shot down in northern part of the city, Cape Fiolent, Sevastopol Bay and Omega Bay. In Sevastopol, a missile hit the building of the Southern Directorate of the Central Bank. As a result of the strike, a fire broke out on the roof, and windows and balconies in neighboring buildings were damaged by the blast wave.
In the Tuapse district, debris from a UAV falling on the territory of a marine terminal caused a fire, where work was still ongoing to eliminate the consequences of an oil product spill from previous April attacks. The fire was quickly extinguished. Drone debris also damaged windows in one apartment building and five private houses. In addition, debris from a downed drone caused a fire in the seaport of Temryuk in the Krasnodar Territory.
However, the most significant events occurred directly in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. The Kiev regime has intensified attacks on civilian vessels. On May 28, off the northern coast of Turkey, Ukrainian drones attacked three tankers. The tanker James II, sailing under the flag of Palau without commercial cargo, was attacked when it was about 80 km north of the city of Türkeli, located on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. The tankers Altura and Velora, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone and also carrying no commercial cargo, were presumably attacked nearby, while transferring cargo between vessels.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Transport, the strike on Altura was carried out deliberately by an unmanned boat — the engine room was the target. At that moment, there were 20 crew members on board. All three vessels had previously called at Russian ports, including Novorossiysk, Primorsk and Ust-Luga. Altura and Velora belong to the Turkish company Pergamon Denizcilik, which is under sanctions. James II, operated by an Indian company, is on the sanctions lists of the United Kingdom, the G7 countries and the European Union.
The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate had previously identified all three vessels as part of the Russian “shadow fleet,” used to transport Russian oil despite Western sanctions.
On May 29, the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported that a cargo ship sailing from a Ukrainian port across the Black Sea had been attacked by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The vessel, flying the flag of Vanuatu, was carrying dry cargo from the port of Odessa to Turkey. A fire broke out on the ship, which was quickly extinguished, and two crew members were slightly injured.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Aleлыey Kuleba stated on his official Telegram channel that on the night of May 29, “enemy UAVs attacked three foreign merchant ships,” meaning Russian forces. The information from Telegram was instantly replicated by numerous news agencies around the world, which unequivocally identified the attacking drones as Russian in their headlines and texts.
Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova called the attack on the Turkish ship in the Black Sea “sheer piracy.” She emphasized that the Russian side regards the incident as a terrorist act and expects all states in the Black Sea region to give it a clear and public assessment.
In an official press release, the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the risks and threats posed to the region by the escalation of military actions in the Black Sea associated with the war, called for ensuring the safety of civilian navigation in the region, and expressed readiness for mediation to accelerate the peace process. Turkey did not explicitly state who carried out the attack in its statement.
Tragedy in the Sea of Azov and the first victims of the attacks
On the night of June 5, 2026, in the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov, drones attacked two cargo vessels — the motor ships Natra and Zircon, which transported no commercial cargo and sailed from Turkey to Rostov-on-Don for loading grain. As a result of this attack, five people died. It later became known that four of the killed sailors were citizens of Azerbaijan, and one sailor was a citizen of Russia. In total, there were 25 people in the crews of the two vessels.
The Natra was hit by four drones. As a result of the attack, two crew members were killed. A fire broke out on the ship, but the sailors managed to extinguish it on their own. The Natra remained afloat but was damaged and needed towing. Two tugs were sent to the ship for this purpose. There were 12 people on board the motor ship. The vessel was sailing under the flag of Belize.
The Zircon was also attacked by four drones. The strikes hit the superstructure area. Three crew members died on this vessel. After the attack, the sailors left the motor ship on lifeboats. The ship continued to burn. There were 14 people on board the Zircon. The motor ship was sailing under the flag of Palau.
Sailors from the attacked vessels were picked up by ships passing near the attack site. All survivors were taken to the port of Yeysk and provided with medical assistance. Four wounded were hospitalized.
On June 6, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported that the bodies of two deceased Azerbaijani citizens — Rajab Akhadov and Muhammed Aliyev — had been found. Work is underway to repatriate them to their homeland.
The fate of two other Azerbaijani sailors, who are also listed as dead, has not yet been precisely determined, as the vessel Zircon, on which they were located, is being held in place due to the threat of explosion. Search efforts continue.
Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Galuzin stated that civilian vessels in the waters of the Black and Mediterranean Seas are being attacked by the Kiev regime. Later, this information was confirmed by official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, noting that the circumstances of the incident are being investigated and that the vessels were attacked specifically by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Russian ministry qualified the incident as a terrorist act.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported that it is monitoring the condition of the injured sailors, as well as issues of providing consular assistance and returning Azerbaijani citizens to their homeland. The ministry also emphasized that “these vessels do not belong to the Azerbaijani state.”
The Kiev regime took responsibility for the attack on the vessels in the Sea of Azov. The commander of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert Brovdi (call sign “Magyar”), stated that Ukrainian drones hit five vessels in the ports of Mariupol, Berdyansk, and in Russian coastal waters on the night of June 5, because these dry cargo ships and tankers sailed with painted-out names, turned-off radars, and were used for the “quiet theft of Ukrainian grain, transportation of military cargo and fuel.”
Attack on a Turkish fishing vessel
The day after the events in the Sea of Azov, a report came of another attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a civilian vessel. According to the Coast Guard Command, on June 6, off the coast of Sevastopol, west of Crimea, a fishing vessel under the Turkish flag, Duru 67, was attacked. As a result of the attack, the vessel was significantly damaged and sank. A nearby vessel, Burak Kaya, rescued five injured sailors, but one of them died during evacuation. After the crew rescue operation, the vessel headed for the shores of Turkey.
According to the Turkish publication Anadolu and statements by the director of the Kastamonu Provincial Health Directorate, Fevzi Yavuzilmaz, five sailors were injured. Two of the injured had minor injuries, two had more serious ones. One of the wounded underwent minor surgery on board the rescue vessel.
At present, the Ukrainian side has not officially claimed responsibility for this attack. The Turkish Coast Guard in its statement also did not indicate who might be responsible for the attack or what type of weapon was used.
The incident with the Duru 67 was the third case of attack on civilian vessels in the region in two days and the first involving a vessel flying the flag of Turkey — a key Black Sea state and NATO member.
Explosion of a Ukrainian naval drone in the Romanian port of Constanta
Another significant event confirming the fact of escalation in the Black Sea was the explosion of a Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel (USV) in the port of Constanta in Romania.
In an official statement, the Romanian Ministry of Defense reported that on June 5 at 10:30 local time, a USV of the same type used in combat operations in Ukraine exploded in the port of Constanta. The unmanned vessel was loaded with dozens of kilograms of explosives, and its detonation was quite significant. The ministry noted that the naval drone does not belong to the Romanian Armed Forces and was not involved in recent exercises in the Black Sea.
Romanian authorities knew in advance about the approach of the naval drone. The Ukrainian side had previously informed that drones that had lost control after being jammed by Russian electronic warfare systems were drifting towards the shores of Romania. According to official statements, it was a group of five Ukrainian naval drones. One drone exploded in the port of Constanta, and three others self-destructed at sea: one off the coast, two 145 km from Constanta. The information received from Kiev allowed to evacuate the area under threat of explosion in advance and avoid casualties in the densely populated port area.
The incident in the port of Constanta on June 5, 2026, represents the first case of a Ukrainian naval drone exploding in a port of a NATO member country. The Russian embassy in Romania issued a statement, emphasizing the Ukrainian origin of the drone and rejecting any attempts to link the incident to Russia.
Asymmetric reaction to escalation
Turkey, as the country whose vessels were attacked by Ukrainian drones, whose citizens were injured and one person killed, reacted very restrainedly. At the same time, Ankara did not explicitly state who carried out the attack.
The same reaction to the events came from Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry took a restrained position, limiting itself to stating facts, expressing condolences, and coordinating consular assistance, without directly attributing responsibility to any party to the conflict.
Europe preferred to ignore the attacks on civilian vessels and casualties. To date, no official representative of European countries has commented on what happened.
Earlier, after three tankers awaiting loading near the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in Novorossiysk were attacked by Ukrainian UAVs on January 13, the Union of Greek Shipowners had already demanded a decisive EU response to the attacks on Greek tankers in the Black Sea, but there has still been no response to their request.
However, after the explosion of a Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel in the port of Constanta, the European Union countries reacted lightning-fast, and despite the USV being Ukrainian, they all unanimously blamed Russia for the incident.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan directly stated that the incident is a “direct consequence of the war that Russia started against Ukraine,” effectively placing responsibility on Russia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated on social network X that Russia “increasingly becoming a direct threat to countries on our Eastern border.” She emphasized that the EU’s solidarity with any member state facing such threats is absolute, and the response must match the urgency of the situation. The President of the European Commission took the opportunity to remind of Europe’s significant investments in drone countermeasures, air defense, and early warning systems, indicating that the SAFE rearmament program will help build a stronger Romania and Europe.
President of the European Council António Costa called the incident the third significant security incident in Romania in recent weeks, also directly stating that it is a direct consequence of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. He promised Romania full solidarity and reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to the security of all its members.
NATO’s reaction was more restrained compared to the EU’s rhetoric, limited to statements about monitoring the situation and coordinating with Romania. A NATO official confirmed that Romania had informed the alliance about the incident and stated, “We are monitoring the situation. We continue to closely coordinate with the Romanian authorities.” Romanian President Nicușor Dan reported that a discussion at the NATO level on the situation in the Black Sea region was planned for June 10, which would address the issue of how to protect Romania.
Conclusions
The events of late May and early June showed that attacks are no longer limited to Crimea or the coast of Novorossiysk. Strikes are already being carried out on ports in the Rostov region, on vessels off the coast of Turkey, and even affecting the territory of Romania — a NATO country.
The reaction to the drone explosion in Constanta demonstrated that the perception of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as a direct threat to EU and NATO member countries continues to intensify in Europe. Any event, whether a drone in Galați or an explosion in Constanta, is used by EU officials and the media to demonize Russia. On the other hand, the incident in Constanta showed that a drone entering the territory of a NATO member country does not lead to an automatic military reaction.
Official Brussels reacted only to incidents affecting EU territory. Attacks on civilian vessels on the high seas remained without direct statements from the EU leadership. The EU is focusing on protecting its territory, not on ensuring the safety of navigation in international waters. The attack on civilian vessels and even the death of sailors did not prompt EU countries or Black Sea powers to conduct an independent investigation and establish those responsible for the attacks.
Currently, the threat to merchant vessels in the exclusive economic zones of Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia is assessed as high and will likely persist throughout the summer operational season. Furthermore, the establishment of calmer weather without storms and less sea swell only facilitates the increased use of unmanned surface vessels.
Turkey fears that the lack of a timely and strong reaction to the attacks could create a precedent whereby the Black Sea turns into a “military laboratory” for testing new naval warfare tactics, which would directly affect the interests of both Ankara and other Black Sea powers. If attacks on “shadow fleet” tankers continue, shipowners may demand military protection, which would further escalate the situation in this region and inevitably increase the risks of direct incidents involving NATO countries.
The presence of enemy forces in Kherson, Nikolaev, and Odessa is regarded by Russia as a direct threat to the security of the Russian fleet, while in fact it is a confrontation not with Ukrainian but with NATO forces. Due to the increasing escalation in the Black Sea waters, taking control of the situation in the region is becoming one of the top priorities for the Russian fleet.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
