La Quotidienne de Bruxelles - Romania blames Russia for new deadly attack on ship

Several ships have been hit by drones off Romania and Bulgaria in recent weeks in what is believed to be spillover from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Khoryv cargo ship, flying the Comoros flag, was "struck by a drone and sank near Romanian territorial waters", Dan said in a Facebook post.

Speaking to reporters, Dan said the attack was "clearly part of the escalation that Russia is carrying out in the context of the war in Ukraine".

Romania launched a rescue operation after the Khoryv sent a distress signal around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) 13 nautical miles from the Romanian port of Constanta.

Romanian authorities said there were 10 Ukrainian and three Azerbaijani crew on board.

"Of the 13 people on board, 10 were rescued by another commercial vessel in the area, nine of whom were alive and one of whom had died. Three others are still missing," the interior ministry said in a statement.

It added that the vessel "sustained major damage and capsized".

"Due to adverse weather conditions and poor visibility, an aerial rescue operation by helicopter is not possible," said the the Romanian Naval Authority.

- 'Direct threat' -

Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, sworn in just this week after months of political deadlock in Romania, said on Facebook the attack was "unacceptable and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law".

The strikes on civilian shipping in the waters off NATO and EU members Bulgaria and Romania have left a score of sailors missing or dead and stirred condemnation in Europe.

Seven crew went missing on October 15 off Romania when the Wine Trader, a chemical tanker, caught fire after a drone attack.

Romanian fighter jets also shot down two Russian drones over the Black Sea last weekend.

On Thursday, following a meeting of Romania's Supreme Council for National Defence, the presidency said that "threats to freedom of navigation and critical infrastructure have increased significantly".

Romania is looking into "accelerated development of maritime surveillance capabilities, mine countermeasures and effective countermeasures against drones that intrude unauthorised into national airspace and territorial waters", the presidency said.

NATO said after talks on Black Sea security on Tuesday that it was deploying additional planes, drones and radar systems to the area because of the attacks on ships.

Foreign Minister Dan Neculaescu said Romania was working with NATO allies including Bulgaria and Turkey to "fast-track the additional surveillance capabilities".

In his Facebook post, Dan said it was "time for Russia to take the peace initiatives put forward by the United States and Europe seriously, to accept the proposals for a ceasefire and to bring the war to an end".

I.Mertens--LCdB