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A merchant ship sank after drones struck two vessels off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said, according to Reuters. He said one crew member from the sunken vessel was rescued and that he had summoned Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova.
The ship went down 17 nautical miles (31km) east of Krapets, Radev said. He did not provide further details about the vessel.
The second vessel, which was Ukrainian-owned, was hit by three drones about 18 nautical miles from Byala. All 15 crew members were rescued, Radev said. He identified it as the Malta-flagged “Chelsea 3”, registered in Ukraine’s Odesa, and said five crew members were being treated for minor injuries.
After meeting security chiefs on Tuesday, Radev said another attack on merchant ships close to Bulgarian territorial waters was “absolutely unacceptable”. He said there was no conclusive evidence identifying those responsible, but that “the logic suggests that the outcome benefits the Russian Federation”.
The attacks came a week after two other commercial vessels were hit by sea and aerial drones in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. One, the “Alfa Watan”, sank; its 10 crew members, including nine Syrians, are presumed dead.
Radev said he would speak soon with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He had previously requested technical assistance from NATO and the European Union to investigate the 6 October attacks, saying it was unclear whether Russia or Ukraine was responsible.
Ukraine has blamed Russia for the latest attacks. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said they showed Moscow’s “deliberate disregard for civilian lives and maritime security in the Black Sea”. He said the sea was vital to global food security and called for a strong response.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that the Black Sea was becoming “another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine” and called this “unacceptable”. Russia’s military has not publicly commented on the attacks.
Russia says it targets vessels delivering weapons and dual-use cargo to Ukrainian ports. Moscow has cited attacks on the ports of Mykolaiv and Chornomorsk, as well as an incident in the Black Sea. Kyiv and its European allies say merchant ships carrying grain and other civilian cargo are being attacked.
Russia and Ukraine are major grain exporters. Turkey has called on both sides to stop attacks in the Black Sea, while Moscow has rejected US and European calls for a naval ceasefire and accused Ukraine of attacking Russian merchant vessels.
The attacks come amid Russia’s war against Ukraine, launched with a full-scale invasion in 2022. Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory. On the same day that two ships were targeted off Bulgaria the previous week, Ukraine struck an oil tanker in the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi.
