The war in Ukraine escalates in the Black Sea: two merchant ships attacked off the coast of Bulgaria

MoscowThe Black Sea had not been this dangerous since the start of the war in Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian drones have turned its waters into a deadly route for commercial vessels. Early this morning, several devices of unknown origin struck two vessels off the coast of Bulgaria in the first attack against the exclusive economic zone of a NATO member country. One of the ships caught fire and two of the crew members were seriously injured, while the other sank and its sailors remain missing.

The incident occurred about 130 kilometers from the Bulgarian coast. The sunken ship, the Alfa Watan, flying the Togolese flag and under Turkish ownership, was traveling from Istanbul to the Romanian port of Sulina and it is unknown what it was carrying. When rescue boats arrived, they only found capsized lifeboats, but no trace of the crew. The second damaged ship, the Able, was sailing under the flag of Palau and was also owned by a Turkish shipowner. It was heading from the city of Galati, in Romania, to Istanbul with a shipment of grain.

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, described it as an “absolutely unacceptable” attack and a “flagrant violation of international and maritime law.” He also ruled out the need to activate NATO's collective defense clauses because, although the bombing took place in the Bulgarian economic zone, it was not within its territorial waters. Despite this, Radev lamented that the “expansion” of the conflict in Ukraine “greatly hinders navigation in the Black Sea.”

On Tuesday, a Turkish cargo ship transporting corn from the Ukrainian port of Izmail sank off the coast of Romania following the impact of Russian drones, and two of its crew members died. In recent weeks, both armies have increased attacks against vessels and ports in this area. The Kremlin aims to stop Kyiv’s grain exports and harm its economy, while Ukraine strikes ships of the Russian shadow fleet to limit Moscow’s ability to fund the war effort.

All of this is a cause for concern not only for neighboring countries, but for the entire international community, as Russia and Ukraine are responsible for a quarter of global wheat exports. However, Vladimir Putin is not willing to accept a new truce like the one that allowed for grain transit through the Black Sea for a few months between 2022 and 2023. The Russian president maintains that his troops only attack military vessels and that they "practically never make mistakes." At the same time, however, he justifies the bombings against ships heading to Ukrainian ports as revenge for Kyiv's campaign against his oil tankers and refineries. "They started it. Here, fascist, take a grenade from a Soviet soldier. Suddenly, they don't like it," Putin said last Thursday.

Ukraine attacks Russian oil

And yet, Volodymyr Zelensky's strategy against Russian oil does not stop. This morning, two people died and nine others were wounded in the Moscow region during a massive Ukrainian bombardment with about 650 drones. The attack, one of the largest against the capital's outskirts since the beginning of the invasion, has caused a fire at the region's main fuel depot and caused damage to dozens of houses. Although the situation at gas stations is not as critical as it was a few weeks ago, gasoline supply problems persist around Moscow following the accumulation of attacks against oil facilities.

This afternoon, an oil tanker caught fire off the Russian city of Sochi without the circumstances of the fire having been clarified for the moment. The column of smoke is visible from tens of kilometers away. A short time earlier, in the occupied territory of Luhansk, local authorities also reported that a Ukrainian device killed four occupants of a civilian car in the town of Svatove.