Two ships were hit by drones off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and one of them was sunk, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said this morning, describing the attacks as unacceptable.
The Ukrainian-owned ship “Chelsea 3,” sailing under the Maltese flag, was hit by three drones about 18 nautical miles (33 kilometers) from the Bulgarian coast, east of Byala, at around 1:30 a.m. last night, Radev said, as reported by the Bulgarian agency BTA.
Radev said that the maritime rescue center in Varna responded immediately and that the border police rescued the entire crew of the ship, consisting of seven Ukrainian citizens and eight Azerbaijani citizens.
According to him, five crew members received medical assistance, but there were no serious injuries.
The second ship, hit 17 nautical miles east of Krapets, sank and one crew member was rescued, Radev said.
“Another attack on merchant ships in the immediate vicinity of Bulgarian territorial waters is absolutely unacceptable. Our permanent representative to NATO and permanent representative to the European Union have been informed. My conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will follow,” Radev said.
He said there is no clear evidence as to who carried out the attack on the ships, but that “common sense” points to the Russian Federation, and that due to the incident he will summon the Russian ambassador for talks.
He said that Bulgaria will continue to seek and insist on assistance to strengthen the monitoring of air and maritime space and to enhance response capabilities.
This is the second attack on ships in recent times; on October 6, a merchant ship off the coast of Bulgaria was attacked by a drone and sank, the crew went missing, and at that time the Bulgarian prime minister characterized it as a gross violation of international law.
Bulgaria does not border either Ukraine or Russia, but as a NATO member it has a strategic position on the Black Sea, where both countries have major ports.
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