Black Sea drone attacks: Romania and Bulgaria seek NATO support

These rescued sailors arriving at a hospital in the Romanian city of Constanța survived a drone attack at sea. Are you okay? Are you okay? Yes, we are almost okay, but… Was it a drone or two? Missing people. Seven missing people. Was it a drone or two? This is what they escaped. One of two chemical tankers on fire near Romania's coast, seen here early on Thursday morning. It's the latest in a string of drone attacks in the Black Sea, a critical shipping route where Kyiv and Moscow regularly trade strikes. Ukraine and Russia border the Black Sea. EU members Bulgaria and Romania also have Black Sea coastlines and are now increasingly seeing the conflict spill over into their territorial waters. This incident shot up the agenda of EU leaders gathering here in Brussels. Not for the first time they find themselves grappling with the very direct fallout of the war next door. Bulgaria's prime minister chose his words carefully. We don't believe that Ukraine will attack its own ships and crews. It is, there is no logic here. So the results of this attack favor Russia. However, we don't have any solid evidence that the drones are Russians. Romania's president was more direct. Obviously there are attempts by Russia, not only against Romania and Bulgaria, but against European countries, especially those on the eastern flank, to destabilize societies and to reduce support for Ukraine and our response is we continue to support Ukraine." Both leaders headed across town to meet the NATO Secretary General for emergency talks on Thursday. They want the military alliance to increase deployments near the Black Sea, potentially through new operations with fellow NATO member Turkey, as Moscow continues to test the resilience of those back in Kyiv. Rosie Burchard, Al Jazeera, Brussels.