Azov drone strikes choke Russian grain exports, lift wheat
Ukrainian drone attacks have halted shipping through the Sea of Azov, a route for a quarter of Russian grain exports, lifting European wheat prices as leaders gather in Paris to coordinate air defences and counter Russian cyber threats.
Ukrainian drones hit 15 Russian vessels overnight, including seven tankers, bringing the eight-day total to 105 strikes in the Sea of Azov, according to drone forces commander Robert Brovdi. The sustained assault has effectively suspended commercial transit through the Kerch Strait and the Azov-Don channel. This has paralysed a waterway that handles a quarter of Russia’s grain exports, sending Euronext wheat up 4 per cent to a six-week high on Friday.
The naval campaign is disrupting both Russian logistics and energy infrastructure. Ukraine's SBU security service said it struck an oil depot in the Stavropol region and destroyed three storage tanks at the port of Kavkaz. Two Russian patrol boats in the Black Sea and car ferries at Kerch were also hit, though Russian authorities have not formally announced the shipping curbs.
This escalation coincides with a high-profile meeting in Paris of the Coalition of the Willing, a group of more than 30 nations led by the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine. Around 25 heads of state are attending to secure new air-defence commitments for Kyiv. "Everyone in the world sees that Ukraine needs more air defence, more protection of life," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.
European leaders are also addressing the widening scope of Russian aggression beyond conventional warfare. France will summon the Russian ambassador and sanction nine individuals and four entities over a hacking campaign. "Today, we will publicly condemn a widespread cyber campaign conducted by Russia that aimed to carry out sabotage and spying conducted against a dozen countries," foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. The UK, meanwhile, moved to proscribe Russia's GRU intelligence agency as a terror group.
Despite Kyiv's recent battlefield momentum and a year of peace efforts by the Trump administration, Moscow has shown no willingness to negotiate. The Kremlin dismissed the Paris gathering as a pro-Ukrainian bloc intent on prolonging the war. European foreign ministers are meeting separately in Brussels to assess the broader threat the conflict poses to the continent.
