SOFIA, Bulgaria, 13 Oct. - (ANA) — Drones struck two ships in the Black Sea off Bulgaria on Tuesday, sinking one and prompting emergency rescue operations, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

 

The Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship Dignity sank after it was hit by a military strike. Five sailors were rescued, while a search for the other 11 crew members continues, Varna district governor Mario Smrkov said.

 

Rescuers evacuated all 15 crew members from the Ukrainian-operated coastal freighter Chelsea 3, sailing under the Maltese flag, with five receiving treatment for minor injuries, Radev said in a video posted to social media.

 

The crew, which included seven Ukrainian citizens and eight Azerbaijan citizens, reported the ship’s deck and hull were hit by three aerial drones.

 

The strikes on the two ships occurred 20 miles and 21 miles (32 and 34 kilometers) from the Bulgarian coast.

 

During an emergency meeting of Bulgaria’s Security Council on Tuesday, Radev called the attacks “absolutely unacceptable” and said Bulgaria was seeking NATO and European Union assistance.

 

While authorities do not possess clear evidence on who was responsible for the drone attacks, “it makes no sense for Ukraine to destroy its own ships in the Black Sea, and the results of these strikes favor Russia’s interests,” Radev told the Russian Ambassador in Sofia during a meeting on Tuesday, the government’s press office reported.

 

The ambassador said that she does not have any information from the Russian defense ministry related to the recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea but added that she did not rule out the possibility that “these attacks represent a provocation by a third party.”

 

Radev has said that such attacks are unacceptable and that Bulgaria will continue to investigate the attacks together with its EU and NATO allies to establish the truth.

 

Radev said that Bulgaria is suffering significant economic and financial damage and added that his country will initiate talks with neighboring Romania and Turkey on joint proposals to guarantee the safety of shipping in the Black Sea.

 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in a post on X on Tuesday blamed Russia for the attacks.

 

“NATO will continue to work closely with our Allies in the Black Sea,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wrote on X. He added that NATO had already strengthened its posture along the eastern flank and will continue to monitor the security environment, adjusting its deterrence and defense posture as needed.

 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “strongly condemned” the drone incidents and said the Black Sea “has become another front of escalation” in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

 

The attacks came exactly a week after sea and aerial drones attacked two other commercial vessels in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea. A Togo-flagged ship sank, while a Bulgarian ferry evacuated the 18-member crew of a Pulau-flagged vessel.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/13 October 2026 - - -