Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, told the European Parliament on 20 October that Ukraine is losing about €60m a day in export revenue from Russian attacks on its trade routes since mid-July1. About 90% of its cargo moves through the Black Sea corridor. Kallas counted six attacks on Black Sea shipping in ten days by suspected Russian drones, which she called "a dangerous and unacceptable escalation"2.
Seven sailors were still missing after a drone attack on two tankers off Romania's coast, Kallas said, and Romanian F-16s shot down two drones over Romanian territorial waters on 17 October. The drone-hit cargo ship Chelsea 3 was towed into the Bulgarian port of Burgas on 17 October, and military prosecutors in Sofia opened pre-trial proceedings3. Days earlier, drones had sunk the HS Dignity off Bulgaria.
Russian attacks have "almost halted" farm exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, Reuters reported on 17 October4. Ukraine supplies about 15% of the world's maize exports and half its sunflower oil5, and Kallas said global grain prices are at their highest since February 2023. The EU is discussing a Black Sea freedom-of-navigation arrangement with Turkey, India and other partners; Ukraine proposed it and Russia has rejected it, she said.
Kallas said Russia is also hitting the land crossings into Moldova, Romania and Poland. Moldova has pulled its border guards and customs officers from four crossings on Ukrainian soil after strikes near the border, and is weighing moving Ukrainian checkpoints onto Moldovan territory6. On 19 October Kallas proposed a further round of EU sanctions listings aimed at the shadow fleet, energy and banking7.
