Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the latest intelligence information indicates that Russia is preparing to launch a “large-scale attack” on Ukraine.
Zelensky said in a video speech: “There is updated intelligence information indicating that Russia is preparing to launch a large-scale attack,” according to the Reuters news agency.
He added: “The Ukrainian security services and our air force are ready to respond to the extent permitted by our available defense means.”
Zelensky pointed out that Ukraine's position depends to a large extent on what weapons the allies can provide for defense in the face of a new Russian attack.
He said: “Many things depend on our partners, and on every leader and every country in the world that possesses the defense capabilities we need and can provide them to us.”
He added: “It is important to have the political will to do so, especially in the United States, Europe and among our other partners.”
The Bulgarian authorities launched a massive search operation to find the crew members of a commercial ship who went missing after it sank on Tuesday in the Black Sea following drone strikes, in an attack that Prime Minister Rumen Radev described as “completely unacceptable,” according to Agence France-Presse.
The attack came the day after another incident during which a ship caught fire and sank off the Romanian coast, leading to the death of one person and the loss of another.
According to Radev said during a press conference, two commercial ships were attacked on Tuesday “around three in the morning” by “sea and air drones,” 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) east of the city of Byala, in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.
The ship that sank was the "Alpha Watan", which was flying the Togolese flag, according to the specialized website "Maritime". BG.”
As for the second ship, “Ebel”, registered in Palau, it caught fire, but its 18 crew members, 11 Turks and seven Indians, were rescued. Two of them were taken to hospital, one with burns and the other with a head injury.
The two ships are owned by Turkish shipowners, according to the Equasis maritime transport database.
Radev added that a Bulgarian vehicle transport ship witnessed the explosion and rushed to the site, where it found overturned life rafts and life jackets near the ship that sank, but none of its crew members were found. The number of missing people was not specified.
He condemned these strikes, saying that they constitute “a flagrant violation of the law of the sea, and in general, the rules of navigation,” and expressed his regret at the repercussions of the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Radev said, “An attack like this in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone is completely unacceptable,” at a time when maritime transport in the Black Sea has been suffering in recent months from many repercussions of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
After an emergency meeting of his government, the Bulgarian Prime Minister told the media that it is currently impossible to accurately determine the country from which the drones came.
Increased attacks on ships
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in turn, described the attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea as “unacceptable.”
She said in a post on social media that “although the exact circumstances of these incidents have not yet become clear,” these events are “extremely disturbing.”
Radev pointed out that the ship “Ebel” was carrying wheat and sailing south, while “Alpha Watan” was sailing north, according to available information.
On Monday, another Turkish cargo ship carrying grain, called “Royad Mammadov,” sank in Romania’s exclusive economic zone, following a drone attack that Ukraine accused Russia of carrying out.
According to the media office of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, the captain of the ship, Ruyad Mammadov, an Azerbaijani, was killed, and one of his citizens is still missing.
Incidents related to drones have become more frequent in recent months in Eastern European and Black Sea countries.
At least 45 commercial ships were subjected to attacks during the past 12 months in areas of the Black Sea that were not previously classified as high risk, according to the company “Ambry”, which specializes in maritime risks, in September.
Embry explained that no strike was recorded in these areas during the previous 12 months, adding that the increase in the number of attacks is driven by strikes launched at greater distances off the coasts of Russia and Ukraine.
The Turkish Maritime Chamber of Commerce (IMIAK) said in August that 226 civilian ships, including commercial ships, have been targeted in the Black Sea since the start of the war, the vast majority of them during the current year.
Tuesday's incident is the first of its kind in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.
In August, a drone exploded in northeastern Bulgarian territory, near the Romanian border and a gas pipeline.
Sofia suggested at the time that it was likely to be a model used by Ukrainian forces, while Kiev, for its part, confirmed that none of its drones intentionally targeted Bulgaria.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed the importance of Iceland to the security of the United States and its allies, as Washington seeks to strengthen its influence in the Arctic region, during his visit, on Tuesday, to the capital of this island located in the North Atlantic Ocean.
From Reykjavik, Rubio began a European tour that comes after Washington signed a security agreement regarding the island of Greenland, which contributed to calming tensions with the Europeans regarding this territory belonging to Denmark, which is also located near the North Pole, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
The US Secretary of State said in a joint press conference with his Icelandic counterpart that Iceland allowed US forces to use its lands, airspace and waters.
He added: “We have thus provided a vital advanced location to monitor secret activities and deter our opponents from entering your sovereign territory and the sovereign territory of our mutual allies.”
Rubio arrived in Iceland on Monday, and held discussions in its capital with Prime Minister Kristron Frostadóttir. He also visited the Hovde headquarters, where American and Soviet Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev held a meeting in October 1986, which included a historic handshake.
Rubio reenacted the scene by shaking hands with the Prime Minister at the same location.
The US Secretary of State discussed the issues of geothermal energy, data centers, and the pharmaceutical industry.
US President Donald Trump sparked controversy in early September after he published a “map” in which the American flag covered all of North America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Greenland and Iceland. Reykjavik responded by summoning the American ambassador, an issue that the two sides said they discussed during the meeting.
The Icelandic Foreign Minister said: “We have already addressed this issue in a constructive way... and we have been very clear about it, because we enjoy a very good relationship with the United States, and we want to continue strengthening it.”
“More than ever”
The minister also praised the “good” agreement concluded between Denmark, Greenland and the United States, after months of tensions that followed Trump’s threats to impose “control” over the autonomous Danish territory, which further strained transatlantic relations.
Under the agreement, Washington intends to establish two new military bases in Greenland, which will consolidate the region’s position in the American orbit after Trump’s threats.
With the spotlight once again on the Arctic region, where the coast of eastern Greenland is less than 300 kilometers from Iceland, this island has regained prominent strategic importance.
“For decades, Iceland has held a strategic position essential to our collective security, and that remains true today, more than ever,” Rubio said.
Iceland, which has not had an army since its independence in 1944, depends largely on the United States to ensure its security, within the framework of a bilateral defense agreement concluded in 1951, as well as through its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Washington does not have a permanent base in Iceland, but it seeks to strengthen its control over the routes to the Arctic region in light of intense competition in this area with Russia and China. Rubio visited the Keflavik base, where he met with members of the US Navy deployed there. The last visit by a US Secretary of State to Iceland dates back to 2021.
Rubio's visit also comes after the referendum held in late August, in which Icelanders voted by 52.8 percent against resuming negotiations to join the European Union, frozen since 2013.
Rubio concluded his visit to Iceland, heading to Athens to participate in a “strategic dialogue” with Greece regarding regional and energy security, according to the US State Department. He is scheduled to conclude his tour with a short visit to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.
