Two merchant ships were hit by drones overnight off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, and one of them went down. On Tuesday Prime Minister Rumen Radev summoned the Russian ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova.
The Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity sank 17 nautical miles (31km) east of the village of Krapets after sending a distress signal. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said six crew members were rescued and ten were missing. Daily Sabah, citing Bulgarian officials, gave five rescued and 11 missing. Search and rescue continued. The second vessel, the Ukrainian-owned Chelsea-3, was struck 18 nautical miles from the town of Byala. All 15 crew survived, though five were treated for minor injuries, Radev said.
Both ships were hit just outside Bulgarian territorial waters, in its exclusive economic zone. A few nautical miles further west, the BBC noted, Article 5 of the Nato treaty could have been triggered.
A second attack in a week
This was not the first. On 6 October, two other commercial ships were hit by sea and aerial drones in the same zone. The Alfa Watan sank, and its 10 crew, nine of them Syrians, are presumed dead. Radev had asked Nato and the EU for technical help investigating those strikes and said it was unclear who was behind them. He has rejected suggestions that he is pro-Russian, and his government had until now avoided blaming Moscow.
This time Radev stopped short of a direct accusation. There was no conclusive evidence against “either side”, he said, but “the logic suggests that the outcome benefits the Russian Federation”. Stoyanov was blunter: “We assume the drones are Russian,” he said, since it would have been “illogical” for Ukraine to hit its own ships. “We see this conflict drawing ever closer to our territorial waters,” he added after speaking to his Romanian and Turkish counterparts.
After meeting Radev, Mitrofanova said she had no information from Russia’s defence ministry about the attacks. She suggested they could have been a provocation by a third party. Russia’s military has not publicly commented.
Allies and accusations
Radev also spoke by phone with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, asking for support to strengthen maritime and airspace surveillance. Rutte said Nato has already strengthened its posture on the eastern flank and will adjust it “as needed”.
Von der Leyen called the Black Sea “another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine” and said those responsible should be held accountable. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of “deliberate disregard for civilian lives” and of trying to “weaponise hunger”.
The strikes fit a wider pattern. Russia has recently intensified attacks on shipping in the western Black Sea, saying it targets vessels carrying weapons and dual-use cargo to Ukrainian ports. Kyiv and its European allies say ships with grain and other civilian cargo are being hit. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s own ports have pushed Ukraine toward Danube river ports and routes close to Bulgaria and Romania. Ukraine, for its part, has hit Russian grain ships and, last week, an oil tanker at Sochi. Moscow has repeatedly rejected calls for a naval ceasefire, and Turkey has urged both sides to stop attacking in the Black Sea.
Sources
- Bulgarian PM summons Russian ambassador after ship sinks in Black Sea drone attack
- Sofia calls Moscow envoy over 11 missing in drone attack on ship
