Ukrainian Drones Strike Cargo Ships in the Sea of Azov, Killing Five Azerbaijani Sailors and Straining Ties With Baku

Five Azerbaijani sailors were killed and three others wounded early on June 5 when Ukrainian drones struck two cargo ships in the Sea of Azov, an attack that has injected fresh strain into the already fraught relationship between Moscow and Baku. The targeted vessels, identified as the Natra and the Zircon, were carrying mixed crews and had been traveling from Turkey toward the Russian port of Rostov-on-Don to load grain when they came under fire.

According to Azerbaijani officials, 25 Azerbaijani nationals were aboard the two ships at the time of the strike. The Natra was hit several times, killing two crew members, while the Zircon sustained multiple strikes that touched off a fire and left three crew members dead. The injured were evacuated for treatment after the blazes were brought under control.

Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces, said Ukrainian drones had struck five "illegally loitering" vessels overnight in the ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk and in the coastal waters of Russian-occupied territory. Ukrainian military officials said the ships they targeted were involved in moving grain out of occupied areas and ferrying supplies tied to Russia's military operations — a characterization that frames the strikes as legitimate wartime targeting rather than attacks on civilian commerce.

Russia condemned the assault in sharp terms. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin expressed condolences to the families of those killed while accusing Kyiv of deliberately striking civilian vessels. The presence of Azerbaijani nationals among the dead has added a combustible diplomatic dimension, coming at a moment when relations between Moscow and Baku are already raw over a string of disputes, including the 2024 downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet for which Russian air defenses were eventually blamed.

The Sea of Azov, a shallow inland body of water linked to the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait, has become an increasingly active front as Ukraine extends its long-range drone and naval-drone campaign against Russian shipping and the ports that sustain Moscow's war economy. Kyiv has made clear it intends to make the waterway unsafe for vessels it deems complicit in the war, and the latest strikes underscore how deeply the conflict has reached into maritime trade routes that once seemed safely behind Russian lines. For Azerbaijan, the deaths of five of its citizens far from home have turned a distant war into an unwelcome domestic crisis, and Baku is now pressing for answers about how its sailors came to be in the line of fire.