Drone Attacks Off Bulgaria: What Happened to the Ships and What's Next
Two merchant ships were hit by drones off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast on 13 October 2026, and one sank. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced the attacks and said Russia was suspected. BBC
One vessel sank 17 nautical miles (31km) east of Krapets. One crew member from that sinking was saved. BBC Eleven sailors were missing after the drone attack sank the ship off Bulgaria's coast. Reuters Injured sailors were transported by ambulances in Varna. Reuters
The second vessel hit that day was Ukrainian-owned. It was struck by three drones 18 nautical miles from Byala, and all 15 crew members were rescued. BBC Radev identified one of the hit vessels as the Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3, registered in Ukraine's Odesa. In shipping, that means it flew Malta's flag but was listed in Odesa. Five crew members of the Chelsea 3 were treated for minor injuries. BBC
Radev said he had summoned Russian envoy Eleonora Mitrofanova over the attacks, a formal step to protest and demand answers. He convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday over the attacks and said he would speak to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. NATO is the military alliance that includes Bulgaria and other Western partners. BBC Ukraine directly blamed Russia for the latest attacks on commercial vessels near Bulgaria. BBC
These were not the first strikes. A week earlier, two other commercial ships were hit in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, the offshore area where a coastal state has special rights over resources and economic activity. The Alfa Watan sank and all 10 crew, including nine Syrians, were presumed dead. BBC Radev had earlier asked NATO and the EU for technical assistance to investigate the 6 October attacks. BBC On the same day last week that two ships were targeted off Bulgaria, Ukraine hit an oil tanker in the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi. BBC
The broader context here is risk spreading for civilian shipping in the western Black Sea. Four merchant vessels were reported hit in two incidents within about a week. Two sank. Crews were killed, are missing, or were injured. For operators, insurers and flag states, it is getting harder to price the difference between a war zone and the waters of a NATO and EU member, much like charging for car insurance when safe streets suddenly turn risky. For Sofia, the request for technical help and a direct call with the NATO secretary general point to an effort to build attribution with allies, through radar data, debris and other evidence, rather than assertion alone.
Looking at what this means for diplomacy, language matters. Sofia speaks of suspicion and summons. Kyiv speaks of direct blame. That gap is normal in the first hours after strikes at sea, where radar tracks, debris and signal intelligence take time to assemble. What to watch next is what the emergency consultations produce, whether NATO or EU technical teams deploy, what forensic evidence Bulgaria publishes from the 6 October and 13 October incidents, and whether commercial traffic reroutes or pauses along the Bulgarian coast. Retaliation at sea also bears watching, after parallel strikes on tankers and merchantmen on both sides of the Black Sea.
