Putin is testing the Europeans in the Black Sea, which is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.

The Black Sea has become unsafe and virtually unnavigable; Vladimir Putin’s Russia has extended to this region – the very sea covered by agreements brokered by Turkey to facilitate trade in resources, particularly agricultural produce – the tactics it employs, in a far more intense and deadly manner, against Ukraine: rendering it unliveable, impassable and fatal. Search operations by the Bulgarian authorities in the Black Sea, 70 nautical miles from the town of Byala, continued throughout the day, after a wave of drones struck two ships passing through Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. The two vessels were attacked by maritime and aerial drones around three in the morning: one, flying the flag of Togo, sank and its crew are missing; the second, flying the flag of Palau, sustained damage and caught fire in parts: its crew were rescued by vessels provided by Bulgaria. 

This is the first time that commercial vessels have been targeted within the exclusive economic zone of Bulgaria, a member of the European Union and NATO: Prime Minister Rumen Radev has called an emergency meeting and described the attack as a “serious violation of international law”, reiterating what is already known but to which the response has been sporadic, namely that attacks of this kind pose growing risks to shipping in the Black Sea, drive up insurance costs and further complicate maritime transport.

At the same time, a Russian drone struck a merchant ship flying the Marshall Islands flag and carrying rapeseed oil: one steward was killed, seven other crew members were injured and a fire broke out. “By deliberately targeting civilian maritime transport and port infrastructure,” said Oleh Kiper, governor of the war-torn Odessa region, “Russia is violating the norms of international law and thus poses a threat to global food security.” The previous day, on Monday, a cargo ship caught fire off the Romanian coast following an attack by a Russian drone that killed two people and injured at least eleven, triggering a large-scale search and rescue operation. After Romanian media and authorities initially reported a fire on the ship, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that a civilian vessel had been attacked by two Russian drones, adding that it was a Turkish-owned ship carrying maize. According to Farm Policy News, there were 35 attacks on ships in port and 22 at sea in July, compared with 14 attacks in the whole of 2025 – and since September there has been, as in Ukraine and across Europe, an intensification of attacks, to the extent that Ukrainian agricultural exports for 2026–27 are forecast to fall by 54 per cent.

The reactions from the European Union and NATO have been the same as ever: condemnation, ‘unacceptable’ attacks that must stop. But Vladimir Putin’s test continues; he wants to see just how far he can push things. Every now and then he is denounced, as happened with the attack in Leipzig or the sabotage in Estonia, but for the Russian president, the rule he set himself from the outset still applies: to destroy what he cannot conquer (and this destruction includes rendering one of Europe’s crucial trade routes – the Black Sea – unnavigable) and to fracture Western consensus, by fuelling the movements and politicians who, faced with his threat, seek to take a step back rather than stand firm. This strategy has been intensifying for months; the list of cases of sabotage and espionage is growing longer by the day; and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s statement about defending ‘every centimetre’ of the Alliance’s territory must now also apply to the skies and the seas.

The countries that are arming themselves do exist and are growing in strength: yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron, whilst witnessing the first launch of the new M51.3 ballistic missile from the nuclear-powered missile submarine Le Vigilant, said: “To be free, you must be feared. And to be feared, you must be powerful.” Political and military defence is becoming increasingly entrenched, particularly in the Baltic states and northern Europe, as demonstrated by Lithuania and Finland’s determination to initiate the process leading to the lifting of nuclear restrictions. Finland, which was not a member of NATO prior to the invasion of Ukraine and is now fortifying its long border with Russia, is also at the centre of another act of Russian sabotage, as reported by the British Telegraph yesterday. Of all the hybrid threats, this is perhaps the most revolting: it appears that Russian agents have broken into the homes of several Finnish politicians and, in order to intimidate them, have left faeces in the bathrooms, left lights on and left doors open.