Photo: Bulgarian Presidency / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5 bg
Two merchant ships were hit by drones in the Black Sea off Bulgaria in the early hours of Tuesday, October 13, and one of them sank, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. It is the second attack of its kind close to the country’s territorial waters in a week, and Radev said he would summon Russia’s ambassador over it.
What happened at sea
According to Radev, a distress call came in at about 1:30 am local time from the Chelsea 3, a cargo ship flying the Maltese flag, registered in Odesa and owned by a Ukrainian company. Its crew said three aerial drones had struck the deck and the side of the vessel about 18 nautical miles (around 33 km) east of the coastal town of Byala.
All 15 people on board, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, were taken to the port of Varna. Five were given medical care, though officials said nobody was seriously hurt. The regional administration in Varna said the ship had been sailing from Türkiye to Moldova and was listing slightly when the crew was evacuated on a Border Police vessel. A navigation warning later said the damaged ship was at anchor with no one on board.
At an emergency meeting of the government’s security council, ministers were told about a second ship that had been hit about 17 nautical miles east of Krapets, further north along the coast. That vessel sank, and one crew member was rescued, Radev said.
Who is behind it?
Radev said Bulgaria had no clear and conclusive evidence to blame either side in the Russia-Ukraine war. “However, as I have already stated, the logic suggests that the outcome benefits the Russian Federation,” he wrote, adding that he would meet the Russian ambassador the same day.
This is absolutely unacceptable — another attack in the immediate vicinity of Bulgarian territorial waters.
Rumen Radev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria
He said Bulgaria’s envoys to NATO and the European Union had been briefed and that he would speak to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Sofia is asking allies to help investigate where the drones came from and to strengthen surveillance of its air and sea space. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the strikes, saying the Black Sea had become “another front of escalation” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and that those responsible should be held to account.
Why it matters
Bulgaria does not share a border with Russia or Ukraine, but as a NATO member on the Black Sea it sits close to the shipping lanes that both countries depend on for their ports. Last week, drones hit two ships off the Bulgarian coast and one of them sank; all 10 crew members of that vessel are still unaccounted for. That October 6 attack, in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, led the country’s president to call a meeting of the national security advisory council.
Two attacks in seven days so close to an alliance member’s waters add to European worries about drone strikes and other “hybrid” attacks linked to the war. Bulgaria now wants faster help from NATO and the EU to monitor the sea. Sofia has also asked partners to help with an investigation to establish which country the drones came from.
