Drone Attacks Sink Ship in Black Sea

A civilian cargo ship, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, sank after an attack involving air and sea drones in the Black Sea, according to Bulgarian officials. Its crew is missing, and Bulgarian authorities have launched a search operation after a nearby Bulgarian vessel found an overturned boat, rafts and life jackets. Officials have not said how many people were aboard or what the ship was carrying. The incident occurred about 70 miles off Byala, within Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. A second ship, the Palau-flagged Able, was also struck nearby while carrying grain. Its 18 crew members—11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals—were rescued by Bulgarian sailors. Two were injured in a fire on board and sent for treatment. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev condemned the attacks as a violation of maritime law but did not identify who was responsible. He warned that the war in Ukraine could spread geographically and increase the risk of a wider conflict. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also condemned attacks on commercial shipping and described the situation in the Black Sea as increasingly concerning. The incident follows other attacks on civilian vessels in the region, including a separate strike near Odesa that killed one crew member and injured seven. The article places the events amid Russia’s intensifying strikes in the Black Sea and its wider war against Ukraine. Russia had not commented on the latest incident; its defence ministry had said it would intensify attacks across Ukraine in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s remarks about targeting Russian oil refineries.

Two commercial vessels were struck by drones early Tuesday in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, according to Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev. The attacks occurred about 128 kilometres off the coast near Byala, marking the first reported attack on shipping in that part of the NATO member’s waters. The drones’ origin was not established. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan suffered critical structural damage and sank. Authorities had no immediate information about the fate of its crew. The Palau-flagged Able caught fire; a Bulgarian ferry evacuated all 18 people aboard. Two sailors were severely injured and taken to a hospital in Varna. The Able was carrying wheat and sailing south, while the Alfa Watan was heading north with an unknown cargo. Bulgarian authorities were monitoring for oil spills and other environmental damage and conducting search-and-rescue operations. Radev condemned the attacks as violations of international and maritime law, warning that they were disrupting Black Sea shipping and pushing insurance costs higher. He said the widening geographic scope of the war increased the risk of global conflict. NATO referred questions to Bulgarian authorities and did not comment on responsibility. The report places the incident amid other attacks in the region. A Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying corn sank off Romania the previous day after a drone attack; two people died and 11 crew members were rescued. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russian drones, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned attacks on civilian ships. Russia also reported strikes in Ukraine’s Odesa region, including damage to port infrastructure and a bulk carrier, and said its air defences intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight. The article describes the attacks as part of a broader threat to Black Sea commerce and Ukraine’s grain exports, while noting that responsibility for the Bulgaria-area strikes remained unknown.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said two commercial vessels were struck by drones in Bulgaria’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), about 128 kilometres off the coast. The attack occurred in the Black Sea and was described as the first attack on shipping in the exclusive waters of a NATO member country. Radev made the announcement on Tuesday after an emergency meeting about the incident. One vessel, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, sustained critical structural damage and sank at the scene. Officials did not immediately know what had happened to its crew. The second vessel, the Palau-flagged Able, caught fire. A Bulgarian ferry rescued all 18 crew members; two were seriously injured and taken by air to a hospital in Varna. The origin of the drones was unknown at the time of the report. The article places the incident alongside an attack the previous day on a Turkish-owned grain cargo ship in the Black Sea. That vessel also caught fire and sank, killing an Indian and an Azerbaijani citizen. A sidebar-style explainer distinguishes an EEZ from territorial waters. Territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from a coast and are treated as sovereign territory. An EEZ can extend to 200 nautical miles, but the coastal state’s rights there are primarily economic, including fishing, oil drilling and mining. Other countries retain freedoms such as navigation and overflight. The report does not identify who launched the drones or establish whether the attacks on the vessels were connected.