Is the war entering a new phase? Romania has blamed Russia for a drone strike that sank a cargo ship off Romania's Black Sea coast, killing one crew member and leaving three others missing. It's the latest drone attack targeting commercial shipping off the coasts of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria, with at least seven cargo ships hit and 30 sailors reported killed or missing in the past two weeks, raising fears of an escalation in Russia's war against Ukraine. The shipping data website MarineTraffic showed the Khoryv departed Turkiye on Wednesday and was headed for Romania's Sulina port, which links the Danube River to the Black Sea. The canal has become the primary route for Ukrainian exporters, which rely on ports on the Danube and Romanian territorial waters, as Russia has attacked Ukraine's own Black Sea ports.

Is the war entering a new phase? NATO is deploying additional patrol aircraft and intelligence personnel to the Black Sea, a spokesman for the alliance said, after a series of deadly drone attacks in the region widely blamed on Russia but denied by the Kremlin. "Allies have or will send additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, explosive exploitation teams, intelligence personnel, drones and more to the Black Sea," said Colonel Martin O'Donnell on Tuesday. NATO, along with Bulgaria and Romania, has not directly attributed the recent spate of attacks to any country. Military analysts have said Russia almost certainly carried out the attacks but Moscow has not acknowledged any responsibility.

Is the war entering a new phase? Emergency teams are searching for 7 missing crew after two chemical tankers were attacked in the Black Sea. Fires broke out on the ships after they were hit by suspected Russian drones. Why are migrants risking their lives at sea to reach Yemen?

Is the war entering a new phase? Ship catches fire in Romania's waters amid rising attacks in the Black Sea Share Ship catches fire in Romania's waters amid rising attacks in the Black Sea on social media A ship anchored in Romania's territorial waters has caught fire and the crew has been evacuated, Romanian authorities said. The incident comes amid growing concerns over hybrid attacks in the Black Sea involving Russia. Multiple drones breached Romanian airspace on Wednesday near its border with Ukraine. On Tuesday, two ships were hit in drone attacks off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

Is the war entering a new phase? Drone attack sinks ship off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, PM says Share Drone attack sinks ship off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, PM says on social media Two ships have been hit in drone attacks off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. The Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, which was sailing under a Maltese flag, was hit by three drones and damaged about 18 nautical miles (33km) off Bulgaria at about 1:30am on Tuesday (22:30 GMT on Monday), Radev said. Five crew members received medical assistance, and no one was seriously injured. He added that one crew member from the ship that sank was also rescued.

Is the war entering a new phase? Syria has called for an "independent and transparent" investigation into the sinking of a cargo ship in the Black Sea, demanding answers over the fate of the ship's 10 crew members, including nine Syrians and an Egyptian, who remain unaccounted for. The Togolese-flagged Alfa Watan, went down in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone early on Tuesday, amid a rising number of drone strikes hitting Black Sea shipping during the Russia-Ukraine war. Mazen Aloush, from the Syria's port authority asked the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Bulgarian authorities to find out why a search and rescue mission was called off, before the missing sailors were found. "Their fate is still unknown" said Aloush, adding that "the reasons that led to the suspension of search and rescue operations" had to be established.

In Odesa, no-one is safe from Russia's new Black Sea strikes Image caption, Russian missiles and drones are hammering Ukraine's Black Sea ports, like Odesa My crane operator, my partner, died five metres from me The driver remained in the cabin. Svitlana Halchenko winces as she remembers the Russian ballistic missile which exploded at work in Odesa, killing her colleagues. Svitlana works as a warehouse shift manager at the city's main port. Despite her injuries - she walks with a limp, pieces of shrapnel still embedded in her leg and back - Svitlana is determined to keep working. But her normally bustling workplace is largely silent.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' But the calm is deceptive. Two soldiers scour the skies, hands firmly gripping anti-aircraft guns mounted on pick-up trucks parked on a small, dilapidated bridge on a tributary of the Pripyat River. Danger is all around, both in the surrounding land, which still carries the legacy of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, with pockets of intense radioactive contamination, and above, where Russian drones and missiles launched from just across the border in Belarus, a short distance to the north, regularly pass overhead. The area is known as the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), a restricted area of approximately 30km (19 miles) in diameter, comparable in size to Luxembourg, established to contain the spread of contamination. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, briefly occupying the CEZ and the surrounding area, large swaths of it have become militarised, adding another layer of restriction to an already tightly controlled and hazardous environment. Yet despite the CEZ's many dangers, four decades on from the Chornobyl disaster, small communities of scientists, elderly returnees and soldiers have carved out lives among its abandoned buildings, while wildlife thrives in the surrounding forests.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' A Ukrainian married couple, both aged 75, were killed in a Russian attack on Odesa, Ukrainian officials said. Russia launched a series of drone attacks on and near Ukraine's southern port city. The assault destroyed residential buildings and hit a foreign merchant ship, according to Ukrainian authorities. A separate attack killed the married couple and wounded another, reported Ukraine's State Emergency Service. Serhiy Lysak, head of the local military administration, shared images of a building engulfed in flames and another torn open along one side, as emergency crews worked inside.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' Russia strikes Ukraine's Odesa port, kills railway worker in Zaporizhia Russian drones have attacked Ukraine's main Black Sea port in the southern city of Odesa and a railway in the region of Zaporizhia, killing a train driver, according to Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba. The overnight attacks damaged the infrastructure of the Odesa port, including berths, warehouses, railway infrastructure and port operators' facilities, Kuleba said in a statement on X on Wednesday. Kuleba said this is "another proof of terrorism, Russia is at war against peaceful people, against those who were simply doing their job and keeping the country moving". Russia also launched several drones and missiles on a flight path near the disused Chornobyl nuclear plant, elevating the risk of a significant accident, according to Ukraine's top state prosecutor. This comes as Ukraine prepares to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster on Sunday.