Bulgaria asks Russia for explanations for another drone attack against ships in the Black Sea

BarcelonaTwo ships have been attacked by drones in the Black Sea and one has sunk, as reported this Tuesday by the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev. According to available information, the incident occurred about 24 kilometers from the Bulgarian coast. At least sixteen sailors have been injured in the two attacks. "We do not have solid and clear evidence to press charges against any of the parties, but logic points to the Russian Federation," stated the Prime Minister, Rumen Radev, who is pro-Russian, in a video published on social media. For this reason, Radev has met with the Russian ambassador to ask for explanations.

The sunken ship, the Azov Concord, was attacked 17 nautical miles (27 kilometers) from the Bulgarian coastal town of Krapets, near the border with Romania. Five crew members have been rescued and eleven sailors remain missing. The Azov Concord is a cargo ship flying the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines that was sailing from Romania to Turkey, according to the maritime transport agency Maritime.bg.

In the other attack, 18 miles (29 kilometers) from Byala, the Ukrainian-owned cargo ship Chelsea 3, which was sailing under the Maltese flag from Turkey to Romania, was damaged, according to the same portal. Radev pointed out that they were able to rescue all fifteen crew members alive, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, three of whom had minor injuries, and that they have all been taken to the Bulgarian port of Varna.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister has described these new attacks on merchant ships near Bulgaria's territorial waters as unacceptable and announced that he has informed his EU and NATO partners about this new incident. "We will continue to request and insist on receiving help to strengthen the surveillance of the airspace and maritime space and to fortify our response capacity," stressed Radev, who also asked for help to clarify the origin of these aggressions.

Despite admitting that he has no proof that Russia is responsible for the attacks, the Bulgarian Prime Minister has pointed to Russian authorship because "it makes no sense" for Ukraine to be responsible, and it is Moscow that benefits from the attacks. Radev conveyed this suspicion to the Russian ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova, in a meeting where he demanded explanations for the drone attacks on the two ships, according to a statement issued by the Bulgarian government.

The Russian diplomat, for her part, has claimed that she has no information about the incidents, but did not rule out that they could be "a provocation by a third country," without specifying which one. The Ukrainian government has directly pointed to Russia as being responsible for the new attacks. "It demonstrates, once again, Moscow's deliberate disregard for civilian lives and maritime security in the Black Sea," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha. The Bulgarian Prime Minister, however, opposes EU aid to Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian invasion and advocates negotiating with Moscow to end the conflict.

NATO, open to "adjusting" deterrence

Following the attacks, the Bulgarian Prime Minister spoke with the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, and with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The Bulgarian leader asked them to strengthen maritime and aerial surveillance in the country and, in a message on X after the conversation, Rutte assured that the Atlantic Alliance would monitor the security situation in the Black Sea and "adjust" the military presence on the eastern flank – already reinforced – "as necessary".

For her part, Von der Leyen called the attacks "unacceptable" and considered that the Black Sea has become "another front for the escalation of Russia's war in Ukraine". "The attacks put the lives of crews in serious danger and threaten security," remarked the president of the European executive.

It is the second time this month that Bulgaria has reported an incident of this type in the Black Sea. On October 6, a merchant ship ended up sunk and another was damaged in a drone attack 130 meters from the coast, which Sofia has not attributed and has asked for help to investigate. A day earlier, another ship, a Turkish merchant vessel transporting Ukrainian grain, was attacked off the coast of Romania, an event that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, attributed to Russia.

These incidents have once again put under scrutiny Europe's capacity to protect maritime traffic and critical infrastructure in the Black Sea, more than a year after the EU launched a strategy to strengthen security in the region.