In brief
A merchant vessel sank after drone strikes two ships off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, killing 15 crew and injuring five. Prime Minister Rumen Radev blamed Russia and summoned the Russian ambassador, while Ukraine and the European Union condemned the attacks. The incident follows a week‑long series of strikes on commercial ships, raising fears of a new front of the Russian‑Ukraine war in the Black Sea. Calls for a maritime ceasefire continue amid concerns over grain shipments and global food security.
In a stark reminder of the escalating tensions in the Black Sea, a merchant vessel sank after drone strikes two ships off Bulgaria’s coast on Tuesday. The attack, reported by Prime Minister Rumen Radev, claimed the lives of 15 crew members on a Ukrainian‑owned vessel and left five sailors injured on the Maltese‑flagged Chelsea 3.
Radev said the drones targeted one ship 17 nautical miles east of Krapets, which went down, and a second vessel 18 nautical miles from Byala that managed to launch a full rescue operation. No cause for the attack has been confirmed, but the prime minister hinted at Russian involvement and immediately called in Russia’s ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova.
"Another attack on merchant ships in the immediate vicinity of Bulgarian territorial waters is absolutely unacceptable," Radev told his security chiefs. The statement comes a week after the sinking of the Alfa Watan, in which all ten crew, nine of them Syrians, went missing.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has attributed the strikes to Russia, while the European Commission has warned that the Black Sea is becoming "another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine." Moscow says it targets ships delivering weapons to Ukraine, but Kyiv and its allies insist civilian and grain shipments are being hit.
The incidents raise urgent concerns for maritime security and global food supply, as both Russia and Ukraine are key grain exporters. Turkey has called for a halt to the attacks, and NATO has urged the EU to provide technical assistance in investigating the recent actions.
