NATO to send additional patrol planes to Black Sea after drone attacks

NATO is deploying additional patrol aircraft and intelligence personnel to the Black Sea, a spokesman for the alliance said, after a series of deadly drone attacks in the region widely blamed on Russia but denied by the Kremlin.

“Allies have or will send additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, explosive exploitation teams, intelligence personnel, drones and more to the Black Sea,” said Colonel Martin O’Donnell on Tuesday.

“The most important thing we can do, however, is to increase our situational awareness in the region through increased sensors and data sharing,” he added.

NATO, along with Bulgaria and Romania, has not directly attributed the recent spate of attacks to any country. Military analysts have said Russia almost certainly carried out the attacks but Moscow has not acknowledged any responsibility.

In an attack on October 5, Romania reported two people dead after their ship caught fire and sank in Black Sea waters. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of being responsible.

The announcement came after NATO’s main decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, discussed security in the Black Sea at the alliance’s Brussels headquarters.

“NATO has already strengthened our posture along the eastern flank, including with counter-drone capabilities,” spokeswoman Allison Hart said earlier in a post on X.

‘Dangerous and unacceptable’ escalation

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Tuesday said that “six attacks in 10 days by suspected Russian drones marks a dangerous and unacceptable escalation”, adding that the Kremlin likely sought to choke off revenue to Kyiv from grain exports.

Kallas warned that the latest strikes were adding to a “perfect storm” facing global food supplies already being battered by droughts in multiple regions and the 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 them ablaze and raising fresh security concerns along a vital shipping route used by Ukraine.

At least five other cargo vessels were hit near the coasts of Romania and neighbouring NATO member Bulgaria over the previous 10 days, with at least 23 sailors reported missing or dead.