Captain killed as drones hit corn ship in the Black Sea; Zelensky blames Russia

ODESA: The 139-metre grain carrier Royad Mammadov will not reach Ravenna. The Turkish-owned vessel, laden with corn from Ukraine's Danube port of Izmail, caught fire and sank in the Black Sea on Monday after what Ukraine says was a drone strike — killing two crew members, including the captain. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it "a horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters carrying corn." The ship, owned by Turkiye and sailing under the flag of St Kitts and Nevis, had Azerbaijani and Indian nationals among its crew. Romania's interior ministry said the fire broke out in the morning, about 30 nautical miles south of the fishing port of Sfantu Gheorghe, inside Romania's exclusive economic zone. Eleven crew members were rescued — one of them injured — and two bodies were recovered. Zelensky confirmed the captain was among the dead. Bucharest has not assigned blame for the fire. Moscow had no immediate comment, though an earlier daily bulletin from the Russian defence ministry said its forces had struck two cargo vessels. The strike, if confirmed as a drone attack, would mark a dangerous escalation in a campaign that has turned the Black Sea — the artery of Ukraine's grain exports — into a battlefield. Turkiye, which has positioned itself as a mediator, is running out of patience. Turkish seafarers have staged protests over deaths suffered in the attacks, and Ankara has expressed frustration to both sides. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the UN General Assembly the attacks on shipping were "unacceptable." Last month, Turkiye's Chamber of Maritime Commerce said 226 civilian and commercial vessels had been attacked in the Black Sea since the start of the war — the vast majority of them this year. The stakes go beyond one ship and two lives. The Black Sea corridor carries Ukrainian grain to world markets; every attack tightens the insurance screws, raises freight costs and threatens food supplies far from the war zone. Zelensky said Kyiv had proposed measures to secure navigation, "but Russia consistently chooses terror and sinking civilian vessels instead of normal maritime navigation," and called for international pressure to restore maritime security. Two sailors went to work on a corn ship in neutral waters on Monday morning. They did not come home. The war's ledger, measured in grain as well as blood, keeps growing.