Black Sea war debris more than doubles, Ambrey says

War-related objects found in the Black Sea more than doubled in six months as Ukraine and Russia increasingly use unmanned drones, maritime risk firm Ambrey said Thursday.

Ambrey said 56 objects were discovered in the Black Sea basin between March and August, compared with 27 in the previous six months. It said at least a third carried live payloads.

The objects included unexploded ordnance, drones and other unmanned vehicles found washed ashore or floating at sea. Ambrey said the increase was concentrated in Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish waters and was expected to continue. Eight further discoveries were reported in the first seven days of September.

Tomas Alexa, a senior analyst for Europe at Ambrey, said more systems were falling into the water after being shot down or disrupted by electronic warfare. Ambrey warned that crews cannot identify by sight whether an airframe is a decoy or live and should not try.

Alexa said offshore energy infrastructure was particularly at risk because such structures are static and exposed to currents and floating objects. Ambrey said unmanned vehicles, rather than sea mines, are now the main hazard in the basin and that discoveries are likely underreported.