Tag: BlackSea
Maritime Trade Enters the Age of Armed Passage
The modern maritime order is designed to separate a ship's right of passage from the nationality of its owner, the origin of its cargo and the political allegiance of its customer. Across several of the world's most important sea lanes, that separation is beginning to break down.Iran is seeking payments…
Four Countries Protest Russia Over War’s Fallout
Over the past ten days, Russia has drawn formal diplomatic protests from three countries with little in common except geography, India, Azerbaijan, and Botswana, plus a fourth incident involving Romania that Bucharest has linked to Moscow's war. Read together, the four episodes trace back to three distinct features of how…
Romania Starts Shooting Down Russia’s Drones
Romania shot down a drone over the Black Sea on July 26, the third such interception in three days, marking a sharp change in how the NATO member responds to incursions linked to Russia's attacks on neighboring Ukraine.A Romanian F-16 destroyed the drone roughly 12 kilometers northeast of Sulina, in…
NATO Certifies Ukrainian Mine-Warfare Command
NATO has certified a Ukrainian Navy headquarters as capable of commanding multinational mine-countermeasure forces, the first such qualification for Ukraine and a practical step in its integration with the Alliance.During Sea Breeze 26-2 in Portland, Britain, the mine-countermeasures headquarters of Ukraine's 1st Division of Mine Countermeasure Ships passed NATO Evaluation…
Romanian F-16 Downs Drone Over Buzău
A Romanian Air Force F-16 shot down an unidentified drone over Buzău County on Friday, the first confirmed shoot-down of a drone over Romanian territory since Russia's full-scale invasion began.The Defence Ministry said radar detected the aircraft at 9:39 a.m., 20 kilometres east of Sulina, on a course along the…
Ukraine Calls Emergency UN Meeting on Black Sea
Ukraine has requested an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting for July 27 after Russian attacks brought all shipping through its Black Sea maritime corridor to a halt, according to Kyiv Post. Acting Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said no vessels passed through the corridor Wednesday, at the height of the…
How Commercial Shipping Became a Battlefield
Every incident involving a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz now sends shockwaves far beyond the Gulf. But those shockwaves are no longer merely a byproduct of military confrontation – they are increasingly part of the objective. The June truce between Washington and Tehran collapsed this month, and the…
Russia Hits Turkish-Owned Ship Near Odesa
Russia fired three Kh-59/Kh-69 stand-off cruise missiles, launched from tactical aircraft, at the Golden Leo, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged bulk carrier owned by a Turkish company, as it left the port of Odesa loaded with grain, according to the South China Morning Post. One missile struck the starboard side of the ship's…
Russia Intensifies Attacks on Black Sea Shipping
Russian strikes on Ukraine's Black Sea ports have repeatedly hit foreign-flagged civilian merchant vessels over the past week, killing at least seven people and wounding eight more in a series of attacks that has increased risks for commercial shipping serving Ukraine.On the morning of July 17, Russian forces used attack…
Ukraine’s Naval Drones Disable 23 Shadow Fleet Ships
Ukraine struck 23 vessels tied to Russia's shadow fleet over two nights, while parallel strikes hit a railway hub in occupied Kerch, in what commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi describes as a campaign to disable rather than destroy Moscow's sanctions-evading logistics.Brovdi, head of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said operators struck 11…
