Ursula von der Leyen announces EUR 10 mln for Romania’s Black Sea rescue operations

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced in Bucharest that Romania would receive an additional EUR 10 million to improve its search and rescue operations in the Black Sea. The EU will also allocate EUR 50 million to accelerate the development of a regional maritime security hub involving Romania and Bulgaria, alongside closer cooperation with Türkiye, according to Romania Insider.

The EC president made the announcements on Monday, November 9, during joint press statements with Romanian president Nicușor Dan at Cotroceni Palace. Her visit came amid heightened security concerns following drone attacks on commercial ships off the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts.

“The skies over the Black Sea have darkened, particularly in recent weeks with drone attacks targeting commercial ships off your coasts. Innocent sailors having lost their lives, others are still missing at sea. My thoughts today are with their families and loved ones. And I want to express Europe’s full solidarity with Romania; we stand with you,” von der Leyen said.

According to her, the bloc’s response would focus on restoring freedom of navigation, strengthening maritime surveillance, and improving its capacity to respond to crises.

“Freedom of navigation in the Black Sea must be restored and preserved,” she said. “It is a vital trade route for Europe, for Ukraine’s economy and for global food security.”

The EUR 10 million allocation will support Romanian authorities’ capacity to respond rapidly to maritime incidents through search and rescue operations.

“The horrific recent incidents in the Black Sea are a key example,” von der Leyen further stated. “Today, I am pleased to announce an additional EUR 10 million in funding to Romanian authorities for search and rescue operations.”

The Commission president also announced that work on the Black Sea Maritime Security Hub would be accelerated. The initiative was first included in the EU’s Black Sea Strategy in mid-2025.

“Since then, the security environment has deteriorated much faster than any of us anticipated,” she said. “In this context, I welcome the closer maritime cooperation between Romania, Bulgaria and Türkiye. We must all work with an urgency mindset when it comes to our defence and security. That is why I am very pleased to announce that in agreement with Romania and Bulgaria, we will now fast-track the work on the Black Sea Maritime Security Hub, with a clear timeline for completion, and dedicated funding of EUR 50 million”, added Ursula von der Leyen.

The EU will also strengthen maritime surveillance in the region by providing satellite imagery through its Copernicus program, which von der Leyen said could deliver immediate benefits.

During the same joint press statements, president Nicușor Dan stated that the Black Sea was important to Europe because of its role in global trade, energy security, and the future reconstruction of Ukraine. “We cannot speak of lasting peace in Ukraine or an efficient way of rebuilding Ukraine without a secure Black Sea,” he said.

Dan also described recent drone incursions, sabotage operations, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns as parts of a broader hybrid war. “Russia is clearly trying to escalate the conflict it started five years ago in Ukraine and involve European countries in this conflict,” he said during the press statements.

Later the same day, in a Facebook post following the meeting, president Dan welcomed both funding allocations and said the maritime security hub would be managed by Romania and Bulgaria. “The additional EUR 10 million for Romania’s search and rescue operations in the Black Sea will help save lives,” he wrote. “All this support means greater security in the region and more protection for our citizens”, stated Nicușor Dan.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian Federation has systematically targeted civilian commercial navigation across the Black Sea basin, turning a vital global economic artery into a militarized zone. What began in the opening days of the war as indiscriminate missile strikes against bulk carriers and tankers has evolved into an ongoing campaign of hybrid coercion, port bombardments, and weaponized maritime chokepoints that directly challenge the foundational principles of international maritime law.

Timeline of Key Strikes on Merchant Vessels

The Opening Phase: 2022 and the Blockade Strategy

In late February and early March 2022, the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy initiated an immediate naval blockade of all Ukrainian maritime outlets. Within the first two weeks of hostilities alone, five neutral commercial vessels flying flags of Moldova, Panama, Bangladesh, and the Marshall Islands were hit by incoming Russian ordnance or struck floating naval mines deployed across the littoral zone.

The death of a Bangladeshi crewman aboard the Banglar Samriddhi at Olvia anchorage underscored that civilian crews were being treated as collateral damage in a theater of indiscriminate naval fires. By effectively severing Ukraine from commercial sea lines of communication, Moscow engineered a sudden, acute spike in global grain and sunflower oil prices, prompting international condemnation and triggering the mediation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) in July 2022 under United Nations and Turkish auspices.

The Collapse of the Grain Deal: Targeting Danube and Maritime Logistics

When Moscow unilaterally withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense declared that all vessels heading to Ukrainian ports would be treated as potential carriers of military cargo.

Rather than deterring grain exports entirely, this prompted Ukraine to establish a unilateral “Humanitarian Maritime Corridor,” hugging the territorial waters of NATO littoral states—Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. In response, Russian strategy shifted toward systematic, daily bombardments:

• Attacking the Danube Terminals: Throughout late 2023 and early 2024, waves of Iranian-designed Shahed-136 loitering munitions struck the riverine ports of Reni, Izmail, and Kiliya, right on the doorstep of Romanian territory. Silos, grain conveyors, and berthed barges were destroyed.

• Striking Port Infrastructure: In deep-water harbors like Odesa and Pivdennyi, missile attacks routinely compromised loading infrastructure. In November 2023, an air-to-surface missile struck the upper structure of the KMAX Ruler, killing an experienced Ukrainian pilot and injuring several Filipino sailors.

Escalation Near NATO Waters: The Aya and Autumn 2024 Missile Waves

A critical threshold was crossed on September 12, 2024, when the grain bulk carrier Aya, transporting 26,500 metric tons of wheat bound for Egypt, was struck by a Russian Kh-22 anti-ship missile fired from a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber.

The attack took place inside Romania’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), approximately 55 kilometers off Sfântu Gheorghe in the Danube Delta. While the vessel managed to limp to the Port of Constanța without loss of life, the strike demonstrated a deliberate willingness by Russian forces to deploy high-yield supersonic munitions against civilian shipping in international waters adjacent to NATO member states.

The campaign escalated further in October 2024 with Iskander ballistic missile barrages targeting Pivdennyi and Odesa. The strikes hit the bulk carrier Paresa and the container ship Shui Spirit, resulting in significant casualties among civilian dockworkers and port staff, while setting alight thousands of tons of grain designated for humanitarian aid and North African markets.

Breaching International Law and the Weaponization of Hunger

The systematic targeting of non-combatant commercial vessels constitutes a flagrant breach of fundamental tenets of the international law of armed conflict at sea:

1. The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea: Commercial merchant vessels belonging to neutral states are immune from attack unless they directly participate in military action or refuse inspection orders. None of the attacked bulk carriers met the legal criteria for legitimate military objectives.

2. Freedom of Navigation: By conducting attacks against neutral flag-state vessels in international corridors, the Russian military has compromised the basic guarantees enshrined under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

3. Global Food Security: The deliberate interdiction of grain shipments constitutes an extortion mechanism aimed at developing economies, particularly across the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, which depend heavily on agricultural imports through the Bosphorus strait.

Resilience on the Water: Why the Corridor Still Functions

Despite the persistent threat of aerial strikes, floating mines, and Russian electronic warfare jamming GPS systems across the western Black Sea, Ukraine’s maritime corridor has maintained an impressive volume of cargo transit.

Helped by Ukraine’s asymmetric naval warfare—which forced major units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet to retreat east from Sevastopol toward Novorossiysk—and the implementation of war-risk insurance facilities guaranteed through international syndicates and the British maritime sector, commercial vessels continue to make the run into Odesa, Pivdennyi, and Chornomorsk.

Nevertheless, the trail of charred hulls and shattered silos stands as an unvarnished testament to modern piracy under state command. The targeting of civilian mariners in the Black Sea is not a tactical accident; it remains a deliberate, sustained element of Russia’s broader attempt to dismantle the economic viability and international sovereignty of Ukraine.

Luca Niculescu is the new Prime Minister of România

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