SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Drones have struck two ships off the Black Sea. Bulgaria on Tuesday, sinking one and triggering emergency rescue operations, the Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.
The Guinean-flagged cargo ship Dignity sank after being hit by a military strike. Five sailors were rescued, while the search for the other 11 crew members continued, Varna district governor Mario Smrkov said.
Rescuers evacuated all 15 crew members of the Ukrainian coastal cargo ship Chelsea 3, sailing under the Maltese flag, and five of them were treated for minor injuries, Radev said in a video posted on social media.
The crew, which included seven Ukrainian citizens and eight Azerbaijani citizens, reported that the ship’s deck and hull were hit by three aerial drones.
The strikes against the two ships occurred 20 miles and 21 miles (32 and 34 kilometers) from the Bulgarian coast.
At an emergency meeting of the Bulgarian Security Council on Tuesday, Radev called the attacks “absolutely unacceptable” and said Bulgaria was seeking help from NATO and the European Union.
Although authorities do not have clear evidence on who is responsible for the drone attacks, “it makes no sense for Ukraine to destroy its own ships in the Black Sea, and the results of these strikes favor Russia’s interests,” Radev told the Russian ambassador in Sofia during a meeting on Tuesday, the government press service reported.
The ambassador said she did not have any information from the Russian Defense Ministry regarding recent attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea, but added that she did not rule out the possibility that “these attacks represent a provocation by a third party.”
Radev said such attacks were unacceptable and that Bulgaria would continue to investigate such attacks in collaboration with the European Union and its governments. NATO allies to establish the truth.
Radev said Bulgaria was suffering significant economic and financial damage and added that his country would begin negotiations with its Romanian and Turkish neighbors on joint proposals to guarantee the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, in a message on X on Tuesday, blamed Russia for the attacks.
“The latest Russian attack on commercial ships near Bulgarian territorial waters, which injured Ukrainian and Azerbaijani citizens, once again demonstrates Moscow’s deliberate disregard for civilian lives and maritime security in the Black Sea,” Sybiha wrote.
“The Black Sea is a lifeline for global food security. Russia is attacking it to weaponize hunger and take the world hostage. It must be confronted forcefully,” Sybiha wrote.
“NATO will continue to work closely with our Allies in the Black Sea,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wrote on
The UN condemns attacks on civilian ships, particularly the most recent ones off the coast of Bulgaria, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
“This is very worrying because these attacks on ships carrying grain, food and other products destined for the global market have increased and expanded recently,” Dujarric said. “This has a terrible knock-on effect on the price of raw materials around the world, when you also consider the situation around the Strait of Hormuz, in the Red Sea, not to mention the risk – and also the deadly risk that sailors face.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “strongly condemned” the drone incidents and said the Black Sea “has become another front of escalation” in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“This is unacceptable. I strongly condemn drone attacks on merchant ships near the Bulgarian coast. They put the lives of the crew in serious danger and threaten security in the Black Sea,” she said in a message on X.
“We stand with Bulgaria and thank its rescuers for their rapid response. Those responsible must be held to account.”
European Council President Antonio Costa said in a social media post that the EU stood in full solidarity with Bulgaria following the attacks. He said the growing number of Russian hybrid activities would be discussed at the European Council meeting scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Brussels.
These attacks took place exactly a week after maritime and aerial drones attacked two other commercial vessels in the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea. A Togolese-flagged ship sank, while a Bulgarian ferry evacuated the 18 crew members of a Pulau-flagged ship.
The day before, a Turkish cargo ship carrying corn caught fire following a drone attack and then sank in the Black Sea, off the Romanian coast. Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued, Romanian authorities said.
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