A drone hit a cargo ship 7 nautical miles off Romania, inside NATO’s own waters, and Romania says it cannot yet say who sent it

The Black Sea war on shipping has reached inside NATO’s own waters again.

A drone hit the cargo ship Larissa 1 late on Friday, almost 7 nautical miles north-east of Sfântu Gheorghe in Romania’s Danube Delta. The 149-metre, Palau-flagged vessel was heading for the Romanian port of Sulina, from where it was due to continue to Ukraine. The ship’s crew raised the alarm around 9.40pm local time.

Romanian Defence Minister Radu Oprea confirmed the strike on Saturday. “There are no injuries or loss of human lives,” he said. There was no fire on board, and a preliminary assessment found limited damage, mainly to the ship’s cargo crane.

Who sent the drone?

Mr Oprea said he could not say where the drone came from until a technical investigation was complete. The army, navy, Interior Ministry and coastguard are working together on the response.

He said at least two drone alerts had been issued in different parts of Tulcea County on Friday, the region that covers the Danube Delta. Romanian and Spanish air policing jets and helicopters can be sent to intercept drones, and Mr Oprea said Romanian pilots have shot down six so far.

Is this the first time?

No. It is part of a run of drone strikes on merchant ships off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO and European Union members, since early October.

On 23 October, a drone strike sank a cargo ship about 13 nautical miles from Constanța, Romania’s main port, killing one sailor and leaving three missing. Romania’s foreign minister said then that Russia bears full responsibility for the drone attacks, and Romania has proposed a joint NATO military command for the Black Sea. On 28 October, a merchant ship bound for Constanța was hit in Bulgarian waters on the same day the defence ministers of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey met. Bulgaria has said it lacks proof of who is behind the attacks, and Russia has previously denied responsibility for deadly drone strikes in the region.

Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed strikes this month on what it says are ships carrying weapons to Ukrainian ports near Odesa. Those claims have not been independently confirmed.

Why does it matter beyond the Black Sea?

The Danube route through Romania has become one of the ways cargo reaches Ukraine while its own ports are under attack. Every strike on a ship heading for Sulina or Constanța raises the cost and risk for shipowners, insurers and crews, and puts pressure on NATO to decide how far it will go to protect traffic in its members’ waters.

NATO has said it will send more maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems and drones to the Black Sea. Romania and Bulgaria have asked the alliance for help with surveillance and with the means to respond to drone attacks.

For Australians, the stakes are in shipping and food prices: the Black Sea is one of the world’s main routes for grain and fertiliser, and attacks on merchant ships there feed into global freight and insurance costs.