Arabic version: بلغاريا تستدعي المبعوثة الروسية بعد غرق سفينة في البحر الأسود
According to BBC News, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev summoned Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova after two merchant ships were struck by drones off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, with one sinking. Six crew members from the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity were rescued, while 10 remained missing, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said.
The HS Dignity went down 17 nautical miles, or 31km, east of Krapets after sending a distress signal. The Ukrainian-owned Chelsea-3 was struck 18 nautical miles from Byala. All 15 people aboard were rescued, and Radev said five crew members were receiving treatment for minor injuries. The Chelsea-3 is registered in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa.
Radev convened an emergency meeting and said there was no conclusive evidence assigning blame to either side, but that “the logic suggests that the outcome benefits the Russian Federation”. Mitrofanova told him she had no information from Russia’s defence ministry about the attacks and said they could have been a provocation by a third party. Russia’s military had not publicly commented.
The strikes occurred in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, just outside its territorial waters. Radev also spoke with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who said the alliance would continue working closely with allies in the Black Sea and monitoring the security environment. Stoyanov said escalation in the Black Sea was increasing and that Bulgaria assumed the drones were Russian, saying it would be “illogical” for Ukraine to target its own ships.
The attacks followed incidents a week earlier in which two commercial vessels were hit by sea and aerial drones in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. One ship, the Alfa Watan, sank and all 10 crew members, including nine Syrians, are presumed dead. Ukraine accused Russia over the latest strikes, while the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen called the Black Sea “another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine”.
