A drone attack in the Sea of Azov kills five Azerbaijani nationals and injures three others, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry says. The ministry reports that two foreign cargo ships are hit during an overnight attack, and that the casualties involve Azerbaijani citizens working aboard or otherwise associated with the vessels. Bloomberg and JAMnews report the same death toll and injury count, citing Baku’s account.
Ukrainian and Russian explanations differ. Kyiv Post reports that Russia blames Ukraine for the strike, while Kyiv states its drones targeted ships carrying “illegal cargo” connected to occupied Ukrainian ports. OC Media adds that Ukraine frames the incident as an attack on vessels allegedly transporting sanctioned grain from territories occupied by Russia.
The accounts agree on the basic incident details reported by Azerbaijan—five deaths and three injuries following a drone strike affecting two cargo ships in the Sea of Azov—but they differ on the stated rationale and the attribution between Ukraine and Russia. No additional independent confirmation of the claims about cargo or the targeting rationale is provided in the cited reports.
