Drones targeted two vessels in the Black Sea near Bulgaria on Tuesday, causing one to sink and leading to urgent rescue operations, as stated by Prime Minister Rumen Radev. The crew of the Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3, comprising seven Ukrainian and eight Azerbaijani citizens, was safely evacuated after the ship was hit by three drones, with five crew members treated for minor injuries.
One crew member from the sunken vessel was rescued, while details about others onboard were not provided. The attacks on the ships occurred approximately 29 and 27.5 kilometers away from the Bulgarian coast. During an emergency meeting of Bulgaria’s Security Council, Radev condemned the assaults as “completely unacceptable” and sought assistance from NATO and the European Union.
Although the responsible party for the drone attacks remains unclear, Radev suggested that the evidence points towards the Russian Federation. This incident follows a similar attack a week prior in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, where a Togo-flagged ship sank, and a Bulgarian ferry rescued the crew of a Pulau-flagged vessel.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine denied any military operations near the previous week’s attack sites and attributed blame to Russia. In a separate incident, a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying corn caught fire after a drone attack and subsequently sank off the Romanian coast in the Black Sea, resulting in casualties and the rescue of 11 crew members.
Russia has not issued a statement regarding Tuesday’s events. Radev announced plans to meet with the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, on the same day to discuss the situation.