Black Sea drone attacks injure ship crews, Turkey says

Turkey's foreign ministry said drone attacks on two civilian vessels in the Black Sea injured several crew members after the ships left the Russian port of Novorossiysk late on Monday.

The ministry identified the ships as Yasar and Nadezhda and said the condition of the wounded personnel was being closely monitored. It did not say who was responsible for the attacks.

According to monitoring site MarineTraffic, Yasar sails under the Panamanian flag and Nadezhda under the Cameroonian flag, while both are owned by Turkish companies.

Turkey said it was deeply concerned that the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea was affecting civilian shipping. The ministry called on all parties to take urgent measures to ensure navigation safety and warned that food supplies could otherwise be affected.

A Turkish fishing vessel was attacked in late June in the Black Sea near Crimea, leaving one person dead and four injured. At the end of May, Turkey warned of an uncontrolled escalation in the Black Sea region after a drone attack on a Turkish cargo ship. The Ukrainian navy said at the time that a Russian drone had attacked that vessel.