Ukraine’s latest battlefield drone is about to enter the kill zone – to fly out the wounded
Enemy drones and artillery leave wounded troops stranded for weeks or months on the battlefield. A new aerial medical evacuation drone promises to change that.
Romanian authorities initiated search and rescue operations on Thursday off the Black Sea coast following a drone attack on a ship, which subsequently caught fire. The incident occurred approximately 13 nautical miles southeast of the port town of Sulina, involving the San Marino-flagged chemical tanker Wine Trader, which was transporting cargo from Tunisia to Romania.
Five individuals were successfully rescued, while seven others remain missing. Romanian President Nicusor Dan expressed that the Romanian state would respond to the incident, though the drone's origin remained unconfirmed.
Similar drone incursions targeting ships have been reported in the exclusive economic zones of Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO and European Union members, in recent days. The Romanian Ministry of National Defense reported that a group of air targets was monitored near Ukraine's Snake Island overnight, with a drone entering Romania's airspace near Sulina shortly thereafter.
However, no drone was detected on military radars heading towards the Yara J, a chemical and oil tanker en route from Turkey to Sulina, which also experienced a fire incident on Wednesday evening. The crew of the Yara J was unharmed.
On Tuesday, drone strikes on two ships off the Bulgarian coast resulted in an emergency rescue operation for 11 crew members from the HS Dignity, a cargo ship from Guinea-Bissau, with five sustaining minor injuries. The other vessel, the Ukrainian-operated coastal freighter Chelsea 3, sailing under a Maltese flag, also suffered three drone hits, prompting the evacuation of all 15 crew members, five of whom required medical attention.
The Bulgarian Prime Minister attributed the attacks to Russia, following a series of similar incidents in the Black Sea involving commercial vessels. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with both Romanian President Dan and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev to discuss security concerns in the region, highlighting NATO's bolstered counter-drone capabilities and ongoing cooperation with allies.
Written by urgent.news from PBS NewsHour's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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