By Alex Lefkowitz
SOFIA, Oct 13 - Eleven sailors were missing at sea on Tuesday from a ship sunk by a drone attack off the coast of Bulgaria, the second deadly sinking of a cargo vessel in the area in a week, prompting Bulgaria to summon Russia's ambassador.
Two cargo ships were hit by drones overnight and one was sunk, Bulgarian officials said. Bulgaria stopped short of explicitly accusing Russia of carrying out the attacks but Prime Minister Rumen Radev said their outcome "benefits the Russian Federation".
There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the incidents.
"This is absolutely unacceptable — another attack in the immediate vicinity of Bulgarian territorial waters," Radev said in a televised address.
The attacks were also condemned by Ukraine and the EU.
"The Black Sea has become another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X. "Those responsible should be held accountable."
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X on Tuesday that the strike "once again demonstrates Moscow's deliberate disregard for civilian lives".
"The Black Sea is a lifeline for global food security. Russia is attacking it to weaponise hunger and hold the world hostage," he said.
BLACK SEA SHIPPING DRAWN INTO WAR
Bulgarian officials said five crew members had been rescued but 11 were still listed as missing from the ship which sank off the coast of the village of Krapets. Bulgarian media identified the vessel as the cargo ship Azov Concord. Its Turkey-based manager was not immediately available for comment.
Another ship, the Chelsea 3 sailing under Maltese flag, was also hit by three drones overnight, Bulgarian officials said. All crew from that ship — seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis — were rescued and none seriously injured.
A week ago nine Syrian sailors and one Egyptian were lost at sea from a ship that sank when hit by drones in Bulgaria's Black Sea exclusive economic zone. Another ship was also hit that night but the crew was rescued.
More than four and a half years into the war that Moscow launched with its full-scale invasion in 2022, Black Sea shipping has increasingly been drawn into a prolonged battle of economic endurance.
Ukraine and Russia are both among the world's largest exporters of grain.
Russia has been bombing Ukraine's Black Sea ports, forcing Ukraine to rely increasingly on river ports on the Danube and shipping routes close to the coasts of NATO members Bulgaria and Romania.
Ukraine, for its part, has increasingly targeted Russian grain-exporting ships in other parts of the Black Sea and the Azov Sea at the mouth of the Don River.
(Reporting by Alex Lefkowitz and Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Tom Hogue, Lincoln Feast, Edward McAllister, Peter Graff)
