Five Azerbaijan nationals killed in Azov Sea drone attack

Azerbaijan said on Friday that five of its citizens had been killed and three more injured in a drone attack on cargo ships in the Sea of Azov overnight.

Citing an official Russian communication to Baku, the Azeri Foreign Ministry said 25 of its citizens were among the crews of the two vessels, which it said were not owned by Azerbaijan.

"The Russian side provided relevant information that, as a result of the attack, a total of five of our citizens were killed and three were wounded," read a statement.

The wounded seamen have reportedly been taken to hospital in the Russian city of Yeysk on the opposite side of the Azov Sea, where Azeri embassy staff are on the scene.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin blamed Ukraine for the attack, telling journalists in St. Petersburg: "We know very well who is using drones, both aerial and naval, to attack peaceful civilian vessels in the waters of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea."

Ukraine has not responded directly to the Azeri and Russian comments but Robert Brovdi, commander of Kyiv's unmanned systems forces, said Ukrainian drones had "struck five illegally loitering vessels during the night of June 5 in the ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk, and in the coastal waters of the temporarily occupied territories."

He said the vessels were involved ⁠in "stealing" ​Ukrainian ​grain and transferring ​military cargo and fuel, with the names ​of ⁠the vessels painted over ⁠and ​their radars turned off.

The Ukrainian Azov Sea ports of Berdiansk and Mariupol fell under Russian occupation in the opening months of the war.

Berdiansk was captured just three days into the full-scale invasion on February 27, 2022, but the Russian Navy landing ship Saratov was sunk in its port on March 24. Ukrainian forces in Mariupol surrendered on May 16 following a devastating siege.

Breaking out of Mariupol

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France and Germany welcome Zelenskyy's Putin letter

The French and German governments have signaled their approval of an open letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin by his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for face-to-face talks.

"I believe that it is now up to Ukraine and Russia to establish both a ceasefire and a peace plan," said French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Montenegro.

Macron said it was "time" to resume dialogue with Moscow and added: "It is the Europeans who can help with this."

Meanwhile, in Berlin, a spokesman for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government also welcomed Zelenskyy's letter and called for "serious willingness" from Moscow to engage in talks — but said that there was as yet little sign of this.

The spokesman also reiterated the German government's stance that both the European Union and the United States must be party to any negotiations.

Meanwhile, the EU also backed Zelenskyy's call for direct talks in a letter to Putin. "We welcome President Zelenskyy's call for direct negotiations and also the call for a ceasefire — and from our side, we will go once more through the facts, and this is that Ukraine wants peace, Europe wants peace," EU spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said. 

Marine drone self-detonates in Romanian port of Constanta

A marine drone similar to those used in the war in neighboring Ukraine self-detonated in Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta near an oil terminal on Friday, but no casualties were reported, according to the Romanian Ministry of Defense.

The port was evacuated and residents along Romania's Black Sea coast were warned to take cover. Two helicopters surveyed the area for additional drones, said Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat.

"We now know there is the risk of self-detonation, we have ... ‌evacuated in case there are more drones," ‌Arafat ​said, confirming that the drone did not belong to the Romanian armed forces. "We are not panicking, the measures are purely preventative."

There has so far been no confirmation as to the provenance of the drone, but the Russian Embassy in Bucharest has claimed it was Ukrainian.

"These are Ukrainian unmanned maritime vehicles," it said, adding that attempts to link the drone to Russia, "directly or indirectly," were "completely unfounded."

Ukraine has not explicitly claimed ownership of the drone but has reportedly notified Romania that it was one of a group of five in the area, suggesting that it was indeed Ukrainian.

"With a military conflict on the border, it is obvious that the security environment we are in is a sensitive one, which is why we will maintain a high level of vigilance," said Deputy Interior Minister Arafat, adding that the incident is a "direct consequence of the war of aggression unleashed by Russia against Ukraine."

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia's war against Ukraine is becoming a threat for all ‌the ⁠countries ⁠on the bloc's eastern border, writing on social media: "Our ‌solidarity with every ‌member ​state exposed to these threats is absolute."

The explosion in Constanta occurred just a week after a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the southeastern Romanian city of Galati, which is located near the border with Ukraine. 

Russian strike kills four near Kyiv

A Russian drone strike on a factory that produces milk products for children, near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv killed four people early on Friday, authorities said.

"The enemy attacked a peaceful civilian food industry enterprise," Kyiv region governor Mykola Kalashnyk said in a post on Telegram. "Unfortunately, the number of people killed as a result of the hostile attack ... has increased to four people."

The attack caused a fire in the administrative building of the enterprise's complex and parts of its structure had been destroyed, he added.

This is in addition to three people who lost their lives in different parts of Ukraine in the overnight Russian drone attacks.

A "localized ceasefire" took effect on the frontline near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, allowing for the repair of a key power line amid the ongoing Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The IAEA's chief Rafael Grossi himself brokered the ceasefire. This is also the sixth temporary ceasefire he has negotiated with Russia and Ukraine since late last year.

Moscow and Kyiv "engaged constructively with the IAEA during weeks of sensitive and complex talks, with both sides agreeing to cease fire for the sake of nuclear safety," the agency said in a post on X, citing Grossi.