Image for representation purposes only. India has advised its seafarers to weigh security risks carefully before accepting employment on commercial vessels operating in or transiting the Black Sea, after five Indian seafarers were killed in attacks on merchant ships since April 2026. The advisory issued by the Ministry of External Affairs on 26 July describes the security situation in the Black Sea and adjoining maritime areas as highly volatile because of the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict, with commercial vessels in those waters facing significant risks from missile and drone attacks. The warning was published on the same day the Embassy of India in Ukraine confirmed that four Indian nationals were on board the merchant vessel AGN Ragnar when it was struck at the Port of Odesa, with two of them confirmed safe and information still awaited on the remaining two while search and rescue operations continued. Four of the five Indian nationals aboard the bulk carrier Golden Leo were killed and a fifth was hospitalised in critical condition when the vessel was attacked on the evening of 19 July while departing Odesa with a cargo of grain, according to the MEA, which said 17 crew members were on board at the time and that eight were evacuated to a hospital in the city. The Ukrainian Navy attributed the strike to three cruise missiles, one of which it said hit the starboard side of the Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship’s superstructure and started a fire, while the Russian Ministry of Defence stated that its forces had struck Ukrainian ports and vessels operating in the interests of Ukraine’s armed forces. The MEA condemned the attack without assigning responsibility for it. A day earlier, the commercial vessel OMORFI was attacked while transiting the Black Sea in what the MEA described as reportedly Russian territorial waters, killing one of the three Indian nationals among its 10 crew members, with the other two reported safe. The Directorate General of Maritime