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Drones sink a cargo ship off Bulgaria, leaving 11 sailors missing
A second ship, the Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, was hit by three drones in the same overnight attack. Bulgaria has summoned Russia's ambassador, the second such sinking off its coast in a week.
Key points
- A cargo ship sank off the Bulgarian village of Krapets and 11 crew members are missing.
- Prime Minister Rumen Radev called the attack "absolutely unacceptable" and summoned Russia's ambassador.
- Russia's defence ministry listed its overnight strikes in Ukraine without mentioning energy targets, two days after Trump's ceasefire claim.
Drones sank a cargo ship off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast overnight into Tuesday and damaged a second vessel, leaving 11 sailors missing in the second such attack near the country’s waters in a week.
The ship went down off the village of Krapets, close to the Romanian border. Five of its crew were rescued and a search for the others was still going on, Bulgarian officials said.
The second ship, the Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, which sails under the Maltese flag, was struck by three drones at about 1:30 am on Tuesday, roughly 18 nautical miles (33 km) off the coast. It was damaged but stayed afloat. All 15 people on board, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, were rescued, and none was seriously hurt.
“The outcome benefits” Russia
“This is absolutely unacceptable, another attack in the immediate vicinity of Bulgarian territorial waters,” Prime Minister Rumen Radev said in a televised address.
Radev stopped short of blaming Moscow. He said there was no clear evidence of who carried out the attack, but that the outcome “benefits the Russian Federation”. Bulgaria summoned the Russian ambassador. Moscow did not comment.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the strikes. “The Black Sea has become another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine,” she wrote on X. “Those responsible should be held accountable.” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance would adjust its defences as needed.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attack “once again demonstrates Moscow’s deliberate disregard for civilian lives”, adding: “The Black Sea is a lifeline for global food security.”
A shipping lane under fire
About a week ago a ship sank after drone strikes in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. Its 10 crew members, nine Syrians and an Egyptian, have not been found. Another ship was hit that same night; its crew was rescued.
Russian bombing of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has pushed Ukrainian trade towards ports on the Danube and routes that hug the Bulgarian and Romanian coasts. Ukraine, for its part, has increasingly targeted ships carrying Russian grain in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
On Tuesday Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had hit a dry cargo vessel in the Bug estuary that was “carrying military and dual-use goods to the port of Mykolaiv”. Its list of overnight targets also included a locomotive depot in Kyiv, a workshop it said made missiles and long-range drones, and warehouses in the Mykolaiv region. The claims could not be independently confirmed.
The energy truce
The ministry’s list made no mention of energy facilities, two days after US President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire”. The Kremlin has still not confirmed that it signed up to any truce, and Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power sites continued on Monday.
Washington’s own dealings with Moscow drew fresh criticism in Europe. Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, speaking at a forum in Singapore after Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports, said feeding Russia’s “imperial” war machine with more revenue was “not a good idea”. “The rest of the world should be on the side of the victim,” she said.