Drones sink cargo ship off Bulgaria's coast; 11 sailors missing as Sofia summons Russian ambassador

Eleven sailors were missing at sea Tuesday after drones struck two cargo ships off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast overnight and sank one, Bulgarian officials said. The ships were hit roughly 20 miles from shore, and Bulgaria summoned Russia’s ambassador.

President Iliana Iotova identified the sunken vessel as the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity, which went down off the village of Krapets. Five crew members were rescued, and a search operation is ongoing.

The second ship, the Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3, was hit on its deck and hull by three drones. All 15 crew, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, were rescued, and five were treated for minor injuries.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev stopped short of accusing Russia. Authorities have no clear evidence of who was responsible, he said, but “the result is in favor of the Russian Federation.” After an emergency meeting of Bulgaria’s Security Council, he called the attacks “absolutely unacceptable.”

Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova met Radev in Sofia and said she had no information from the Defense Ministry about attacks on commercial vessels, according to the Bulgarian government. She did not rule out a provocation by a third party.

Moscow did not immediately comment.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha blamed Moscow outright. “The Black Sea is a lifeline for global food security. Russia is attacking it to weaponize hunger and hold the world hostage,” he wrote on X. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the strikes, saying the Black Sea “has become another front of escalation” in Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Those responsible should be held accountable,” she added.

Radev asked von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte by phone for help bolstering Bulgaria’s maritime and airspace surveillance. Rutte said NATO will keep adjusting its eastern flank presence “as needed.”

The attacks came a week after drones hit two other commercial vessels in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. One ship sank, and nine Syrian sailors and one Egyptian were lost at sea.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s military ran no operations near those locations and pointed to Russia. A day earlier, a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying corn caught fire after a drone attack and sank off Romania, killing two, Romanian authorities said.

Black Sea shipping has been drawn deeper into the war. Russia has bombed Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, pushing Ukraine to rely on Danube river ports and routes near the coasts of NATO members Bulgaria and Romania, while Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian grain-exporting ships elsewhere in the Black Sea and the Azov Sea.