Drones sank the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship HS Dignity off Krapets, near Bulgaria's border with Romania, overnight on 12-13 October1. Five crew were rescued and 11 are missing. Drones also hit the Malta-flagged, Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3 about 18 nautical miles off Byala2. All of its crew, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, were rescued3.
Nobody has shown who launched the drones. Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Rumen Radev, said the outcome "benefits the Russian Federation" and was "absolutely unacceptable"4, but also said Bulgaria lacked solid evidence to accuse any specific party5. Sofia summoned Russia's ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova, who said she had no information from Russia's defence ministry and did not rule out a provocation by a third party6. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, blamed Moscow7.
A week earlier, on 6 October, drones sank the Alfa Watan in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone8; nine Syrian sailors and one Egyptian were lost at sea9. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said "the Black Sea has become another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine"10.
On 16 October Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Bulgaria had asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for aircraft, air defence, counter-drone systems and air patrols, "the entire spectrum of available assets"11. The request cuts against Sofia's recent course. Bulgaria sits with Romania in the Bucharest Nine, the group of NATO's eastern-flank states whose May summit Zelenskyy addressed. Bulgaria's government stopped state military aid to Ukraine in June and in July left the Coalition of the Willing, the mostly European group planning security guarantees for Ukraine12. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the Alliance would adjust its eastern-flank presence "as needed"13.
