Black Sea Drone Attacks Sink Cargo Ship; 11 Missing

Drone strikes hit two cargo ships in the Black Sea off Bulgaria on Tuesday, sinking one vessel and leaving 11 sailors missing. Sofia called the attacks unacceptable, summoned Russia’s ambassador, and asked NATO and the EU for help.
Key takeaways

Conceptual editorial illustration of two cargo ships on a dark teal night sea under a stormy burnt-orange sky crossed by drone silhouettes — flat vector artwork, not a photograph — Illustration: WHAT TODAY?

Two cargo ships were struck by drones in the Black Sea off Bulgaria on Tuesday, in an attack that sank one vessel and left 11 sailors missing, Bulgarian officials said. The strikes hit roughly 20 miles from the Bulgarian coast, marking a sharp escalation of the war’s spillover into NATO waters.

The ship that sank was the HS Dignity, sailing under the flag of Guinea-Bissau on a voyage from Algeria to the Romanian port of Braila. Bulgarian officials said five crew members were pulled from the water, while 11 — mostly Syrian and Egyptian nationals — remained missing as rescue operations continued. The vessel went down about 17 nautical miles east of the town of Krapets.

The second ship, the Maltese-flagged coastal freighter Chelsea 3, operated by a Ukrainian company, was hit by three drones on its deck and hull near Byala. All 15 crew members — seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis — were evacuated, with five treated for minor injuries.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev called an emergency meeting of Bulgaria’s Security Council and declared the attacks “absolutely unacceptable.” He summoned the Russian ambassador in Sofia and said Bulgaria would seek NATO and European Union assistance in investigating the strikes.

While Sofia says it has no conclusive evidence of who launched the drones, Radev told the ambassador that it made no sense for Ukraine to destroy its own ships, adding that the attacks’ outcome favored Russian interests. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov went further, saying the drones were assumed to be Russian — the first time Bulgaria has directly pointed the finger at Moscow.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance would adjust its defences as needed after speaking with Radev. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the strikes as a new front in the escalation of Russia’s war against Ukraine, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga accused Moscow of attacking a sea route he called a lifeline for global food security.

Why it matters

The Black Sea has become one of the world’s most dangerous commercial waterways. Maritime risk analysts say at least 45 merchant vessels have been attacked in the past 12 months in areas once considered low-risk, and Tuesday’s strikes landed within sight of the coast of a NATO and EU member state.

The stakes are direct: the Black Sea corridor carries a significant share of the world’s grain and energy shipments, and attacks on merchant shipping have already pushed insurance costs higher and forced vessels onto longer routes. For NATO, the incident raises uncomfortable questions about how to protect civilian shipping in alliance waters.

What’s next

Bulgaria has asked NATO and the EU for help establishing who was behind the attack, and two Bulgarian human-rights groups have urged prosecutors to investigate possible war crimes. Russia’s ambassador in Sofia said Moscow had no information from its defence ministry about the strikes and suggested a provocation by a third party was possible. With 11 sailors still missing and rescue efforts continuing, the incident is likely to dominate this week’s NATO and EU security discussions.