EU foreign policy chief says six suspected Russian drone attacks in ten days mark a dangerous escalation in the Black Sea

The European Union’s High Representative and Vice-President has described a run of suspected Russian drone attacks on Black Sea shipping as “a dangerous and unacceptable escalation”, in a statement issued in Strasbourg on 20 October 2026.

According to the statement, there have been six suspected Russian drone attacks in the Black Sea in the past ten days. It also refers to two drones shot down over Romanian territorial waters by Romanian F-16 jets on Saturday, and to seven sailors reported missing after a drone strike on two tankers off Romania’s Black Sea coast. We reported the F-16 incident in Romanian F-16s shoot down two jet-powered drones over the Black Sea, defence ministry says.

Grain exports and prices

The statement says Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s export routes since mid-July, at an estimated cost to Ukraine of €60 million a day in lost export revenue. It puts Ukraine’s share of world trade at roughly 15 percent of maize, 10 percent of wheat, 15 to 20 percent of barley and 50 percent of sunflower oil, with about 90 percent of those goods moving through the Black Sea corridor.

Global grain prices are at their highest since February 2023, the statement says, citing a strong El Niño, drought in both hemispheres and the effect of the Middle East conflict on fertiliser exports. It names three chokepoints under pressure: Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab and the Black Sea. Russia is also accused of targeting Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure, ports, border crossings, vessels and grain storage, including crossings with Moldova, Romania and Poland.

The EU’s three-part response

• Keeping Ukraine connected: the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes have raised grain exports by almost two million tonnes since July, according to the statement.
• Security: maritime surveillance sharing through the European Defence Agency’s MARSUR network, a Black Sea Maritime Security Hub being set up by Romania and Bulgaria, a proposed Emergency Protocol for faster decisions, work on drone and air-defence capabilities, the Eastern Flank Watch and mine countermeasures.
• Diplomacy: the statement says 51 countries backed a UN General Assembly call for passage through the Black Sea, and that the EU is working with partners including Turkey and India on a freedom-of-navigation arrangement.

The statement says Ukraine has proposed such an arrangement and Russia has rejected it. The European Council has called for the immediate restoration of safe passage for civilian and commercial shipping. Earlier Geopolitiki coverage includes Black Sea: Turkey proposes a moratorium on attacks on merchant ships, with separate corridors for Russia and Ukraine.