Analysis ✳
Both Russia and the West now call the other side's actions 'hybrid warfare'
The term "hybrid warfare" describes using sabotage, cyberattacks and other covert pressure instead of open combat.
#Black Sea
Analysis ✳
Hackers, drone strikes and satellite harassment hit democracies in one week
Within days, government computer systems in Moldova, Ohio and Italy were hacked, a cargo ship was struck by drones in the Black Sea, Iran's navy reportedly threatened another ship's crew, and the US said Russia keeps harassing its military satellites.
Analysis ✳
Britain sets a war-readiness deadline as allies link hybrid attacks across Europe
Britain's defence secretary set a deadline for the country to be ready to fight a war, told households to stockpile emergency supplies, and brought in Finnish trainers to teach officials how to counter hybrid warfare.
Czechia ✳
Russian strikes hit ships in Romanian and Bulgarian waters for first time
Russian attacks on civilian cargo ships in the Black Sea this month hit waters belonging to Romania and Bulgaria for the first time.
Czechia ✳
Drone strike sinks ship off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast
A drone attack hit two ships off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast on Tuesday, sinking one of them.
Analysis ✳
Romania shoots down drone near Black Sea gas platform, blames Russia
Romania's air force shot down a sea drone linked to Russia as it approached an offshore gas platform, and the president blamed Moscow.
Analysis ✳
War, an unexplained ship incident and pirates hit three sea routes in one week
In the same week, Russia stepped up bombing of Ukraine's Odesa port to cut it off from the Black Sea, an unexplained incident was reported in the Strait of Hormuz (the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that much of the world's oil passes through), and Somali pirates hijacked a cargo ship, their fifth attack since April.
World ✳
Russia strikes Ukraine's Izmail port, damaging grain export terminals
Russia struck Izmail, Ukraine's main port on the Danube River, overnight, damaging grain export terminals and starting fires.
World ✳
Putin threatens to seize EU ships after Ukraine hits key Russian port
Russia's President Vladimir Putin threatened to seize ships flying European Union flags anywhere from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
Analysis ✳
Ukraine hits Russian oil port as tension rises across key sea routes
On 12 August Ukraine sent naval drones at Novorossiysk, Russia's main Black Sea oil-export port, part of an ongoing strike campaign.
World ✳
Drone crashes near Bulgarian gas pipeline, wreckage matches Ukrainian models
A drone crashed and exploded near a natural gas pipeline in Bulgaria on Saturday, in a field near the Romanian border and the Black Sea.
World ✳
Ukraine strikes nuclear fuel site as Russia hits Kyiv and Black Sea ports
Overnight, Ukraine reportedly tried to hit a spent nuclear fuel storage building at the Zaporizhzhia power plant, Europe's largest, which Russia has controlled since early in the war.