Turkiye proposes Russia‑Ukraine deal to curb Black Sea attacks, eyes a revived safe‑passage mechanism for civilian ships

This photograph shows the Ro-Ro cargo ship named ‘Lider Bordo Mavi’ at the Port of Trabzon, north-eastern Turkiye on September 15, 2026 after being hit in August in the Black Sea. Turkey has sent a proposal to Russia and Ukraine that would end attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea, a Turkish diplomat told AFP yesterday. — AFP pic

First Published: Friday, 18 Sep 2026 9:28 AM MYT

ANKARA, Sept 18 — Exasperated by the ongoing Black Sea attacks, Turkiye has sent a proposal to Russia and Ukraine to end strikes on civilian ships, a Turkish diplomat told AFP yesterday.

The move follows a sharp increase in attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea in recent months, often using drones, among them many Turkish vessels.

In August alone, “almost 90 ships” were attacked, a Turkish defence source said this month.

And at least 22 Turkish-owned ships were attacked in the two months to August 27, Turkiye’s IMEAK chamber of shipping said.

Four more have been hit since, including one early yesterday.

Over the same period, at least three Turkish nationals have been killed and several others injured.

“We have shared a text of a memorandum, a draft text, with the Russians and the Ukrainians to come up with a solution,” the diplomat said.

Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan demanded a “moratorium” on such attacks, which have intensified as the war rages for a fifth year.

But Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov dismissed it as “unrealistic” and “impossible to monitor”.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriï Sybiga said a halt to Black Sea attacks could emerge from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s talks with US President Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly.

The aim is “achieving a ceasefire. There could be at the same time an energy ceasefire and a ceasefire in the Black Sea,” he told reporters, saying Kyiv had “proposals from other countries to make this real”.

Soaring Black Sea attacks 

Figures from IMEAK show 226 civilian and commercial vessels have been hit since the war began in February 2022.

Seventy per cent — or 163 attacks — took place in first eight months of this year.

Nato-member Turkiye maintains relations with Kyiv and Moscow and has declined to join Western sanctions against Russia.

Its ships are very active in the Black Sea, sailing under various countries’ flags, with several hit by drones believed launched by Ukraine.

Last month, Ankara summoned Ukraine’s envoy following an attack on the Lider Bordo Mavi container ship and a subsequent attack on the Lider Kocatepe which was sent to tow it away.

Anchored in the north-eastern port of Trabzon, the Lider Bordo Mavi appeared to have sustained major fire damage to its bridge and the two decks below, AFP correspondents said.

Grain-corridor mechanism? 

Turkiye has repeatedly raised the idea of reviving the grain corridor format to safeguard shipping with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussing the matter with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in November.

The Turkish diplomat said the proposal was “inspired by” a 2022 deal brokered by Turkiye and the UN to grant safe passage for Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea without risk of attack.

Although Russia pulled out a year later, Ukraine set up an alternative shipping route that hugs the coast of Romania and Bulgaria.

“In that mechanism, there is maybe a four- or five-mile gap where the Ukrainian ship has to leave the national territorial waters and travel in international waters, which is the risky part,” the diplomat explained.

The official also suggested another route along the eastern and southern Black Sea shores.

“We want to use the territorial waters of the adjacent states, including Turkiye — and Georgia, if they are willing,” the diplomat said.

But experts said it would be difficult to get both sides to agree.

“The justification for the original deal was that it would be for the common good of the global south. In this case, without a comparable beneficiary, it will be very difficult to convince parties to agree on such a safe corridor,” said Serhat Guvenc, a professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

“A safe corridor will be in the interests of countries operating merchant vessels in the Black Sea but Russia and Ukraine are... doing their best to force the other side to surrender,” he told AFP. — AFP