Black Sea drone attacks have exposed fresh questions about Europe’s ability to protect civilian shipping and critical infrastructure after a series of incidents off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria left commercial vessels damaged or sunk and at least two people dead.
The latest attacks happened within days of each other in waters close to two NATO member states. On 5 October, a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying grain from Ukraine was struck by at least one drone, caught fire and later sank off Romania. Two crew members were killed, while others were rescued. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian drones were responsible, although responsibility for the attack has not been independently established.
A day later, two commercial vessels were struck in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. One sank and another was damaged. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the attack as “absolutely unacceptable”, but did not assign blame while an investigation was continuing.
The incidents have brought renewed attention to a problem European governments have been trying to address since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine transformed the security environment around the Black Sea. The sea is an important route for commercial shipping, energy infrastructure and the movement of goods, while its seabed contains infrastructure that is increasingly regarded as strategically sensitive.
The European Union adopted its strategic approach to the Black Sea in May 2025, with security and resilience at the centre of the plan. The strategy calls for stronger cooperation with countries in the region and includes a Black Sea Maritime Security flagship initiative and a proposed Maritime Security Hub. The EU says the hub is intended to improve maritime safety, protect critical infrastructure and strengthen cooperation among countries operating in the region.
At the time, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that the Black Sea was facing a range of security challenges, including attacks on ports and shipping routes, airspace violations and hybrid threats. The strategy also recognised the importance of protecting offshore installations and subsea cables.
More than a year after that strategy was announced, the recent attacks have raised a straightforward question: how much protection is actually available when a commercial vessel comes under attack at sea?
The European Commission says work has already begun. According to Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand, 65 projects worth about €200 million have been initiated in the region under the EU’s Black Sea strategy. The European Maritime Safety Agency has also offered support to Romanian and Bulgarian authorities, including satellite imagery requested after the attacks to improve their understanding of the situation at sea.
The planned Maritime Security Hub is another part of that effort. Romania and Bulgaria are leading the project, which is designed to improve maritime situational awareness and support the protection of critical infrastructure. Romania’s Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Țoiu said the hub would be based around the two countries’ major Black Sea ports, Constanța and Varna.
The EU’s strategy therefore provides a framework for cooperation, surveillance and investment. But the latest incidents have also highlighted the difference between having a strategy and having the physical capabilities needed to respond to an attack.
A leaked copy of the EU’s Annual Defence Readiness report points to weaknesses in European maritime capabilities. The report, prepared by the European Defence Agency with contributions from the European Commission and the European External Action Service, assesses whether EU member states are moving towards their 2030 defence-readiness goals.
According to the document, EU governments expect to invest about €98.9 billion in maritime capabilities between 2024 and 2029. Yet significant gaps remain in areas including naval ammunition and missile stocks, integrated air and missile defence, long-range strike capabilities and the protection of seabed infrastructure.
The report recommends greater investment in maritime domain awareness, a more balanced approach between large naval platforms and strike capabilities, and stronger supporting systems such as seabed protection. These capabilities are particularly relevant in an environment where relatively inexpensive drones can threaten much larger and more valuable commercial or military assets.
Mihai Sebastian Chihaia, a maritime security expert at the European Policy Centre, told Euronews that the Black Sea had not received enough attention in Europe’s broader defence debate. In his view, policy documents and strategies cannot provide security on their own. What is required, he argued, is the equipment and intelligence needed to detect and respond to threats, including sensors and radar systems.
The challenge is not limited to the European Union. Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are all important actors in Black Sea security, while NATO remains central to the defence of its member states bordering the region. Chihaia has argued that NATO should develop a more specific strategy for the Black Sea, saying that a broader security architecture for the region has yet to emerge.
The recent attacks have also highlighted the difficulty of protecting civilian shipping in waters where military conflict, commercial traffic and emerging drone technology increasingly overlap. A merchant vessel does not need to be part of a military operation to become exposed to the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
That vulnerability matters beyond the crews of individual ships. The EU describes the Black Sea as an important gateway connecting Europe with the South Caucasus, Central Asia and the wider Mediterranean. Its stability has implications for international trade, food security, energy security and regional connectivity.
European governments are therefore looking at both immediate security measures and longer-term investment. The EU’s Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, is one potential source of defence financing. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said Romania and Bulgaria have a particularly important role in defending Europe’s eastern flank and said the two countries are receiving a combined €20 billion under the programme.
For Brussels, the challenge now is to turn regional cooperation, surveillance systems and defence funding into capabilities that can operate effectively at sea. The Black Sea strategy was designed before the latest attacks, but the incidents have provided a stark demonstration of the kind of threat the strategy was intended to address.
The sinking of commercial ships close to EU and NATO territory does not by itself establish that Europe’s existing security arrangements have failed. Investigations into the individual attacks are still continuing, and responsibility for some of the incidents has not been established. But the attacks have exposed how difficult it is to protect a vast maritime area from drones and other threats while keeping commercial shipping moving.
The EU already has a framework for addressing that problem. What remains under scrutiny is how quickly that framework can translate into surveillance, coordination and defensive capabilities capable of protecting ships and infrastructure in one of Europe’s most strategically important maritime regions.
