Ukraine says it struck five ships stealing grain in Sea of Azov

Ukraine said it struck five ships in the Sea of Azov and nearby coastal waters in Russian-occupied territory, widening a maritime campaign that now threatens to spill beyond Ukraine’s borders and into the Black Sea trade routes NATO watches most closely. Robert Brovdi, Ukraine’s drone commander, said the vessels were being used for “stealing” Ukrainian grain as well as carrying military cargo and fuel, and said they were hit overnight in Mariupol, Berdiansk and adjacent occupied waters.

The ships were described as cargo vessels and tankers with their names painted over and their radars switched off, a method Brovdi said was meant to hide the movement of stolen grain. The strikes came as Ukraine confirmed one of its naval drones exploded off Romania’s coast on June 5, with no injuries reported. That blast, even without casualties, pushed the war closer to NATO territory and underscored how easily a campaign against ports and shipping can brush up against a wider regional crisis.

The timing sharpened the political stakes in Moscow. Vladimir Putin was preparing to speak at a major economic forum in St Petersburg, while Volodymyr Zelensky had offered face-to-face talks on ending the war a day earlier. Ukrainian drones had already hit an oil terminal and a warship in dry dock near St Petersburg on June 3, adding pressure on a showcase event that the Kremlin uses to project control and resilience.

The Sea of Azov has become one of the war’s most exposed maritime fronts. In April 2026, a cargo ship carrying wheat sank there after a Ukrainian drone attack, killing one person and leaving two missing. The new strikes suggest that shipping, not just military hardware, is now a central target in a war that is steadily moving onto the water.

The aftermath also carried a human toll beyond Ukraine’s own coast. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said two cargo ships, Natra and Zirkon, were attacked overnight in Taganrog Bay, and said five Azerbaijani nationals were killed. Preliminary information indicated 12 Azerbaijani nationals were aboard Natra and 14 aboard Zirkon, both of which sailed under the flags of Belize and Palau and carried hallmarks of Russia’s shadow fleet, the aging, often uninsured network used to bypass Western sanctions. Russia blamed Ukraine for the attacks, while Kyiv did not immediately respond, leaving open the question of whether this latest round marks a new phase in the war at sea.