Overview
- Early August drone and missile strikes near Novorossiysk damaged commercial vessels and injured crew members, including the Turkish-owned Nadezhda and the German bulk carrier Emil.
- On Aug. 8 Turkey’s foreign minister publicly urged Russia and Ukraine to declare a moratorium on attacks against commercial ships and proposed a limited navigation-safety mechanism.
- Turkey’s coastal authority has begun pausing or delaying transit permits through the Dardanelles for some voyages bound for parts of the Black Sea, including Novorossiysk, while some ships continued to move north through the straits.
- Ankara says it has prepared national security measures to protect vessels and has presented those steps to the president, and it has passed Kyiv’s proposal to Moscow and is awaiting responses from both sides.
- Shipping groups, insurers and markets are watching closely because the Black Sea is a major route for grain and energy exports and further attacks could raise insurance costs and disrupt global supplies.