Black Sea Drone Attack Sinks Cargo Ship Off Bulgaria — SkimNews
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- Alfa Watan, a Togolese-flagged, Turkish-owned general cargo ship heading for Sulina, Romania, sank after being struck by air and sea drones around 03:00 local time roughly 70 miles off Byala in eastern Bulgaria; Bulgarian rescuers found only an overturned hull, rafts, and life jackets, with the crew still missing
- Able, a Palau-flagged grain ship hit in the same attack zone about five nautical miles away, had all 18 crew members rescued — 11 Turkish and 7 Indian nationals — with two injured in an onboard fire
- Bulgarian PM Rumen Radev condemned the strikes as 'a flagrant violation of maritime law' but stopped short of naming the attacker, instead warning that 'if this war is not halted in time, it will continue to expand its geographical reach and increase risks, including the risk of a global conflict'
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the targeting of commercial ships 'unacceptable,' writing on X that 'innocent crews are being targeted, with lives already lost at sea'
- Russia's defence ministry said a day earlier it would intensify strikes across Ukraine in response to President Zelensky's comments about ramping up attacks on Russian oil refineries; Moscow has not commented on the Black Sea incidents
- Romania reported a grain ship fire and sinking in the Black Sea on Monday that killed one crew member and left another missing, and a separate strike near Odesa killed one and injured seven aboard a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, according to Ukrainian media
- Bulgaria's government has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to discuss the strikes, marking the first direct hit on commercial shipping inside a NATO member's Black Sea exclusive economic zone
Why it matters: Drone attacks inside Bulgaria's Black Sea exclusive economic zone mark the war's first direct strikes on commercial shipping in a NATO member's waters, with one of the two vessels — the Able — carrying grain. Radev's refusal to officially name Russia while linking the attacks to the Ukraine war underscores the diplomatic tightrope NATO Black Sea states are walking as food-export corridors come under fire, and Sofia's emergency Tuesday meeting signals potential escalation in NATO's response.
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