Bulgaria calls for Black sea ceasefire after drone attacks on commercial ships

Bulgaria’s Consultative Council on National Security (CCNS) met on Wednesday to discuss the risks and threats to the country’s maritime security and critical infrastructure amid the war in Ukraine. The meeting was convened after two commercial ships were attacked by drones in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea on October 6. The accidents raised concerns over the safety of navigation, critical infrastructure and the wider security environment in the region.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the attacks as an “absolutely unacceptable attack” in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone and a “gross violation of international law”. He warned that the continuation of the war was expanding its geographical scope and increasing the risks to security and civilian shipping. At the time, the origin of the drones had not been established, and Bulgaria informed the European Commission and the European Council about the incident and raised the issue with NATO.

President Iliyana Yotova said the escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine was creating increasingly serious risks for shipping and security in the Black Sea region. According to her, the growing number of attacks involving increasingly advanced and long-range air and maritime drones has already resulted in damage to and the sinking of commercial vessels, loss of life, reduced shipping traffic, higher insurance costs, economic losses and the risk of environmental pollution. She also stressed that the threat is not limited to the coast, as strategic sites across Bulgaria could potentially be affected.

Following the meeting, the CCNS proposed that Bulgaria strengthen its maritime surveillance and acquire additional anti-drone systems, while accelerating the modernization of the armed forces. The Council also called for an immediate investigation into the attacks and for the results to be made public. It recommended that Bulgaria use its position in NATO and the European Union to seek additional air and maritime surveillance capabilities and stronger coastal defence, while maintaining a high level of readiness of the national maritime search-and-rescue system.

Yotova also said Bulgaria should take an active diplomatic role in efforts to end the war and proposed negotiations among the countries bordering the Black Sea — Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey — on a possible moratorium on military activities in the Black Sea and its transformation into a zone of shared security. At the same time, she said that consultations under Article 4 of the NATO Treaty were not considered necessary at this stage, describing them as unproductive under the current circumstances. The CCNS also proposed urgent talks with Romania and Turkey on coordinated action to protect commercial shipping and called for international assistance through the United Nations to clarify the incidents in technical and legal terms.