All articles tagged with #drone attacks
Bulgaria has terminated the search for ten missing crew members after drones sank the cargo ship Alfa Watan in its exclusive economic zone. A second vessel, the Able, is also sinking, though its 18 crew were rescued. The incident follows a previous drone strike on a grain ship off Romania, raising concerns about expanding maritime conflict.
Two commercial vessels were struck by drones in Bulgarian waters on Tuesday, resulting in the sinking of the Alfa Watan and the disappearance of its crew. While the second ship, the Able, is also sinking, its 18 crew members were rescued. Bulgarian officials condemned the incident as a violation of maritime law but did not attribute the attack to any specific state, even as the war in Ukraine intensifies.
Bulgaria has suspended the search for 10 missing crew members after drones struck two commercial vessels in its exclusive economic zone on Tuesday. The Alfa Watan, a Turkish-owned cargo ship flying the Togo flag, sank after being hit by air and sea drones approximately 70 nautical miles off the coast of Byala. The second vessel, the Able, is also sinking after a drone struck its stern; all 18 of its crew were rescued by the Bulgarian ferry Dioscuria, with two hospitalized. Prime Minister Rumen Radev condemned the incident as a violation of maritime law but did not attribute the attack to any specific state. This incident follows a previous drone strike on a grain ship off Romania that killed two crew members, prompting President Iliana Iotova to convene the national security council.
On September 30, 2026, Russia launched its most significant mass assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the previous heating season, targeting Kyiv and surrounding regions. The day-long attack killed three people in the capital and one child in Kyiv Oblast, while injuring seven others in the city and additional civilians in the region. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 254 of 285 drones launched during the 12-hour air raid, but strikes damaged the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant and other facilities, triggering emergency blackouts and suspending public transport. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi confirmed the scale of the attack, while President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the critical need for interceptor missiles to protect civilian life as winter approaches.
Two Rosneft-owned oil refineries in Syzran and Saratov halted processing after Ukrainian drone strikes. At Syzran, the CDU-6 crude distillation unit was damaged and could take about a month to repair; its second CDU has been under maintenance since July. Saratov has been shut for weeks and was nearing a restart when attacked last week. Together the plants process about 290,000 barrels per day. Ukraine’s drone campaign targets oil infrastructure to raise costs for Moscow, contributing to fuel shortages and rationing across Russia.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says Saudi Arabia’s East-West crude pipeline outage will be brief and “measured in days,” but satellite imagery shows damage at a pumping station that could take months to repair; the disruption has prompted exports to shift toward Hormuz and helped push oil prices higher.
Satellite images show a pumping station on Saudi Arabia's east–west pipeline severely damaged by drone attacks, risking about 4% of global oil supply if the line remains offline for days to weeks. Without the pipeline, Yanbu exports could be sustained for only about 5–7 days, with limited stocks nearby; repair timelines range from days to six weeks. Brent crude rose toward $108 a barrel amid heightened tensions in the region and ongoing supply disruptions.
Russian drone strikes across Ukraine killed at least one and wounded more than a dozen, with Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro hit as Zelenskyy warned that Russia’s airspace could be closed to foreign flights and pressed for peace talks, while Putin branded Kyiv’s leadership as terrorists and hinted at possible retaliatory moves if Britain continues arming Ukraine. Moscow said it shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones overnight, underscoring a broader escalation as both sides exchange threats and strikes.
Putin said Ukraine’s 40-day campaign of strikes caused damage amounting to roughly 1% of Russia’s GDP, citing about 100 Russian ships damaged, significant refinery repair impacts, and a hit to Black Sea ports and grain exports; Zelensky threatened to close Russian airspace to commercial flights with drones, and Putin said Russia would respond if that move occurs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine will crumble, threatened large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s energy system, and boasted of Moscow’s battlefield momentum, while acknowledging Ukrainian drone strikes have damaged Russian refineries and denouncing negotiations with what he calls terrorists.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov says Moscow's mass drone attacks on Ukraine are likely to continue at least until the September State Duma elections, as the Kremlin seeks to show voters a 'picture of victory' after battlefield gains lag, with authorities noting ongoing countermeasures.
Putin signed a decree allowing Russia to place privately owned “critical” facilities under temporary state management if they are deemed to have failed to protect against Ukrainian drone strikes, with no court order and a broad definition of what counts as critical. Legal experts warn it could be used to seize assets under the guise of security or to settle internal corporate disputes, effectively enabling redistribution of assets. The move comes amid a sustained Ukrainian drone campaign against Russia’s energy and logistics networks, with refinery strikes and drone hits on warehouses like Wildberries and Ozon; officials say the measure will be applied selectively and not as mass nationalisation, while some industry figures warn it could erode private control.
Ukrainian drone strikes hit two oil refineries in southern Russia (Krasnodar's Afipsky and Rostov's Novoshakhtinsky), killing at least two people and forcing at least one refinery to suspend processing, highlighting ongoing disruption to Moscow’s fuel infrastructure amid broader attacks on energy facilities.
Government forces say they conducted 81 attacks on Houthi positions in the last 24 hours, while the Houthis claim drone strikes hit Najran, Saudi Arabia (an airport and an Aramco facility). With fighting intensifying and Iran-backed Houthis warning Saudi containment may fail, Yemen risks slipping back into full-scale war. The UN warns of severe food insecurity for millions, and a tanker was boarded off Yemen’s coast, highlighting rising maritime security risks.
Vladimir Putin ordered the government to help rebuild Wildberries’ warehouses damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes, with seven of its ten largest facilities destroyed. He said logistics capacity would be rebuilt with state support and suggested tax breaks and subsidized loans, while noting no critical consequences for the economy. The attack underscores Wildberries’ fragility as Ukraine justifies strikes over dual‑use drone components and the company faces heavy losses and debt, amid broader sanctions and GDP pressures.