Drones sank two cargo ships and damaged a third in the exclusive economic zones of NATO member countries for the first time, killing at least two sailors. The attacks represent a notable escalation, as Black Sea commercial shipping has increasingly come under attack during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has also been accused of carrying out incidents of “hybrid warfare” across Europe.
The cargo ship with the flag of Togo Alpha Month sank and the Palau-flagged cargo ship Able was set on fire after being attacked by multiple sea and air drones about 80 miles (128 kilometers) off the coast of Bulgaria on October 6, according to the Associated Press. In an interview, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the incidents as “an unacceptable attack on Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone” and “a flagrant violation of international law and maritime law.”
The destiny of the Alpha Month’The crew was not known immediately after the ship sank. A Bulgarian ferry managed to evacuate the 18 crew members of the Ableand two seriously injured sailors were airlifted to a hospital in the city of Varna.
This comes a day after drones attacked the Turkish-owned cargo ship named Royad Mammadov inside Romania’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea on October 5. That ship caught fire and eventually sank, with 11 crew members rescued by Romanian boats and helicopters, while one crew member remains missing, according to Euronews. Two crew members died.
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen described the drone attacks on the three ships in the Black Sea as “increasingly worrying” in a post on X. But she also warned that the circumstances of the attacks “are still being established” without naming a likely attacker.
“Attacks on civilian ships are unacceptable,” Leyen wrote. “We stand in full solidarity with our member states on the eastern flank.”
By contrast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described a joint investigation with Bulgaria’s navy as concluding that the latest attacks represented a “combined Russian attack using both maritime and aerial drones,” Reuters reported. Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine’s military was not conducting operations in that part of the Black Sea.
