NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has met the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, and the President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, to discuss the wave of drone attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea. The meeting took place in Brussels on October 15, at the secretary general’s residence and on the margins of the European Council.
Rutte said afterwards that the Alliance had already strengthened its posture along the eastern flank, including an increase in counter-drone capabilities, and would keep adjusting its deterrence and defence as needed. NATO tightened its surveillance of the area at Sofia’s request.
The talks followed a bilateral meeting between the two leaders and came as Romania reported seven people missing after drones struck two chemical tankers off its coast. Drones hit two ships inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone on October 13, sinking one of them.
Dan said the attacks were an attempt by Russia to destabilise the eastern flank and to weaken support for Ukraine, adding that Romania needed equipment suited to a new kind of threat. Bulgaria, which says it has no solid evidence of Russian responsibility, has asked both NATO and the EU for help investigating the strikes.
Romania’s defence minister, Radu Miruță, proposed on October 14 that the Alliance’s Black Sea littoral states, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, set up a joint military command to deal with drones, sunken vessels and naval mines. Asked whether such a mission would fit the existing command structure, NATO said only that it was following the situation closely.
Sofia is separately pushing for a moratorium on drone strikes against commercial and civilian targets at sea. Neither proposal drew a commitment in Brussels.
A couple of hours later, Rutte received the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in the Belgian capital for the European Council. The two men discussed “the importance of implementing an energy ceasefire”, Rutte said, along with allied support for Kyiv through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), under which European states buy American weapons for Ukraine.
That truce was announced by Washington as part of a wider understanding with Moscow that also covers Russian diesel supplies, and Zelensky has said he felt betrayed by it. Russian forces launched about 1,000 drones at Ukrainian targets as he travelled to Brussels.
