Three Sea Drones Hit Container Ship Off Bulgaria, Crew Rescued

Three maritime drones struck a container ship in the Black Sea off Bulgaria's coast on Wednesday, Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told reporters. The incident is the latest in a string of such attacks along NATO's eastern flank.

The vessel, the Liberian-flagged Contship Jet, was hit a little before 1 p.m. local time, roughly 21 nautical miles southeast of the coastal town of Shabla, near Cape Kaliakra in the northeast of the country, Stoyanov said.

According to the state news agency BTA, the crew abandoned the ship and were later picked up by rescue vessels from the Bulgarian Navy and border police. The 18 sailors, 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians, were being taken to the port city of Varna for medical checks.

The ship had been traveling from Haifa in Israel to Constanța in Romania. It was not immediately clear what the 421 containers aboard were carrying.

The strike came while defense ministers from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey were holding trilateral talks in Sofia on security in the Black Sea region. In a statement afterward, the three NATO countries strongly condemned drone attacks on commercial vessels and called for an "immediate cessation of attacks that threaten commercial ships, maritime infrastructure and the safety of maritime activities." They also agreed to strengthen intelligence sharing, early warning capabilities and coordination in the area.

Several drone attacks have taken place this month off the coasts of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria. Some in the alliance have wondered whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is testing their support for Ukraine in its war against Moscow's full-scale invasion. Russia has not claimed responsibility, but suspicion has fallen on Moscow. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told Parliament earlier this month that "the logic points in that direction." He added: "The problem is that we cannot prove it."

On Oct. 15, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a post on X that the alliance had strengthened its posture along the eastern flank, including by increasing counter-drone capabilities, as strikes on commercial vessels grew more frequent.

The attacks inside the exclusive economic zones of Bulgaria and Romania threaten a major global shipping route and have left two people dead, with at least 25 still missing. In early October, two commercial ships were attacked in Bulgaria's zone. A week later, the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity sank after being struck about 17 nautical miles east of Shabla, while the Malta-flagged Chelsea 3 was damaged in a separate attack about 17 nautical miles east of Byala. On Oct. 23, a foreign-flagged cargo ship capsized and sank after a suspected drone strike about 13 nautical miles off the Romanian port city of Constanta.

Throughout the war, Russia has repeatedly bombarded Ukraine's Black Sea and Danube River ports, leaving Kyiv more dependent on alternative routes to deliver grain to markets in Africa and the Middle East. Russian drones have also repeatedly violated Romanian airspace near some of Ukraine's Danube ports.