Ukraine and Romania will strengthen cooperation to protect shipping in the Black Sea

Ukraine and Romania have agreed to strengthen cooperation to protect civil shipping and counter growing threats in the Black Sea.

This was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha following the results of the first telephone conversation with the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Dan Neculaescu.

According to Sybiha, Ukraine and Romania have a common interest in the security and stability of the Black Sea region. The parties discussed the further development of cooperation and a joint response to threats to shipping.

Separately, the Minister mentioned the latest drone attack on a civilian cargo ship near the coast of Romania. This is the dry cargo ship KHORYV under the flag of the Comoros Islands, which sank after being hit approximately 13 nautical miles from Constanta. There were 13 citizens of Ukraine and Azerbaijan on board: nine sailors were rescued, one Ukrainian citizen died, and three more crew members are missing. Romanian President Nicos Dan blamed Russia for the attack.

This is not the first attack on the merchant fleet off the Romanian coast in October. Drones have previously attacked the tankers YARA J and WINE TRADER. YARA J was hit in Romanian territorial waters, the crew was unharmed, and the ship was later towed to Constanta. After the attack on WINE TRADER, part of the crew went missing.

In total, at least seven merchant ships have been attacked off the coast of Romania and Bulgaria in the past two weeks. Against this backdrop, Romania has decided to accelerate the development of surveillance systems in the Black Sea and means of countering drones and sea mines.

USM previously reported that Romania is strengthening countermeasures against mines and drones off its coast.