Bulgaria asks EU and NATO for help after drone attacks

A week after drone attacks on two merchant ships in the Black Sea, Bulgaria has asked the European Union and NATO for technical assistance in the investigation. Both ships attacked were damaged, one of which sank. According to Prime Minister Rumen Radev, it is still unclear whether the drones came from Russia or Ukraine.

What is certain is that one of the ships attacked, the “Alfa Watan,” sank almost immediately after the attack – within about three minutes. A drone that causes such enormous damage would likely have been equipped with a warhead weighing more than 300 kilograms, said professor at the Military Academy in Sofia, Dimitar Nedjalkow, to the Bulgarian television station Nova. There were twelve crew members on board the Togo-flagged “Alfa Watan” who are still missing.

The second ship, the Able, was flying the Palau flag and carrying grain to Istanbul, Turkey, when it caught fire after a drone attack. The 18-person crew was rescued. According to initial investigations, no drone remains were discovered on the ship. According to media reports, the “Able” has now left Bulgarian waters again.

Zelensky blames Moscow for attacks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj saw the attacks as "a further expression of Russian efforts to make the western part of the Black Sea completely unsuitable for shipping." After contacts with the Bulgarian side, it was determined "that it was a combined Russian attack with sea and air drones."