NATO sends patrol planes, radars and drones to the Black Sea after drone attacks on merchant ships leave sailors dead and missing

The decision came out of a North Atlantic Council meeting in Brussels on Black Sea security. "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, a spokesman for NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. "The most important thing we can do, however, is to increase our situational awareness in the region through increased sensors and data sharing." An American P 8 Poseidon patrol aircraft has been flying over Bulgaria's Black Sea coast for two days and was moved to Varna on October 18.

The attacks built up over two weeks. Romania reported two deaths on October 5 when a ship caught fire and sank. On October 13, drones struck two cargo ships off Bulgaria: the Ukrainian owned Chelsea 3 was hit by three drones near Byala, and the HS Dignity sank near Krapets with 11 crew members missing. On October 15, drones hit two chemical tankers near the Romanian coast, among them the Wine Trader near Sulina, and seven sailors were reported missing. Across the run of incidents, at least 23 sailors have been reported dead or missing, as of October 21.

NATO, Romania and Bulgaria have not formally attributed the attacks to any country. Military analysts say Russia almost certainly carried them out, an assessment Moscow has not acknowledged or answered. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called six suspected Russian drone strikes in ten days a dangerous and unacceptable escalation, and suggested the Kremlin wants to cut into Ukraine's grain export revenue along the shipping route the tankers were using. The alliance's answer, for now, is surveillance rather than escort: more eyes over the water, and no protected corridor for the ships still sailing it.