Drones struck two merchant ships in Bulgaria’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone early Tuesday and sank one of them, the second such attack in the zone in a week.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Bulgaria’s rescue center received a distress signal at 1:30 a.m. from the Chelsea 3, a Ukrainian-owned cargo ship that sails under the Maltese flag. The crew told authorities that three aerial drones hit the vessel. A Border Police team pulled all 15 crew members from the ship, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, and brought them to the port of Varna. Five of them needed treatment for minor injuries.
A second ship sank about 17 nautical miles east of Krapets, on Bulgaria’s northern coast. Authorities rescued one crew member, and Radev gave no further details on the vessel or the rest of its crew.
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Radev called the strikes “absolutely unacceptable” and convened an emergency meeting of the government’s security council. He plans to summon Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova and to speak with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He said Bulgaria will keep asking allies for help identifying where the drones came from and for stronger air and sea surveillance.
Radev stopped short of blaming Moscow. He said Bulgaria has no clear evidence against any party, though he added that the logic of the situation points to an outcome that benefits Russia.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha blamed Russia for a “deliberate disregard for civilian lives and maritime security in the Black Sea.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called attacks on civilian shipping unacceptable. Russia has not publicly responded to Tuesday’s strikes in the reports available.
The attack follows a strike on October 6 about 80 miles off Bulgaria’s coast. Drones sank the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan and set the Palau-flagged Able, a wheat carrier, on fire. Radev said that was the first attack on shipping in the zone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his military did not run operations near the site and blamed a combined Russian attack. Russian officials have not issued a response, and NATO referred questions to Bulgarian authorities.
A day earlier, a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain caught fire and sank off Romania’s coast, and two people died. Romania’s foreign minister called it a flagrant violation of international law.
