A commercial ship went down and its crew was reported missing Tuesday after what appeared to be a coordinated attack involving airborne and maritime drones off the coast of NATO member Bulgaria. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of carrying out the strike and warned that Moscow could be preparing an even broader “massive strike.”
A second ship was seriously damaged and caught fire within Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. A drone specialist said the precision attacks marked a dangerous escalation and could point to Russia adopting a wider “larger invasion posture.”
Cameron Chell, the founder of drone maker Draganfly, told News Outlet on Tuesday that the first vessel may have been struck by a Geran-4 aerial drone or a Maran unmanned surface craft.
The two strikes took place about 70 nautical miles from Byala, a town on Bulgaria’s eastern coast, Reuters reported. The incident brought the war directly into the exclusive economic zone of a NATO member. (REUTERS/Petko Momchilov TPX IMAGES)
Chell said the attack likely involved more than an aerial drone because Geran systems typically descend at a sharp angle during their final approach.
He explained that precision drones generally do not travel just above the waterline, where a strike would have been needed to inflict the kind of damage capable of sinking the ship rapidly.
“The nature of this strike suggests there was a combination of an air attack and surface attack,” Chell said.
According to Reuters, the coordinated attack unfolded roughly 70 nautical miles off Byala, placing the incident inside the economic waters of Bulgaria, a NATO member.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence agencies and security services were working to piece together exactly what happened.
“Our intelligence and special services are now working to establish all available information about yet another attack in the Black Sea targeting civilian vessels,” he wrote on X.
He added that Ukraine’s Navy had been in contact with Bulgarian officials and that the incident had been identified as a combined Russian assault using both sea-based and airborne drones.
Chell said the attack’s location and mixed drone tactics could help Russia create additional uncertainty and instability throughout the Black Sea region.
“We can see the amount of geopolitical chaos that’s involved, and this is exactly the type of thing that would benefit Russia in the region,” Chell said.
He described the use of both aerial and surface systems as a hybrid operation that makes it harder to distinguish conventional military action from other forms of coercion, calling it an expansion of Russia’s strategy and tactics.
“This is indicative of this larger invasion posture that seems to be unfolding for Russia,” Chell said, adding that Moscow appeared intent on escalating the situation.
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Moscow on Sept. 5, 2026. (Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed that aerial and maritime drones had targeted two commercial ships along shipping routes inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. He called the incident a “gross, flagrant violation of international law,” Reuters reported.
The ship that sank was identified by British maritime security firm Vanguard as the cargo vessel Alfa Watan. It sustained catastrophic structural damage before disappearing beneath the water with an undisclosed cargo and an unknown number of crew members still aboard.
The Bulgarian ferry Dioscuria changed course toward the scene after its crew saw an explosion and received distress calls, according to Reuters.
Responders later discovered an overturned lifeboat, life rafts and life jackets scattered across the debris field.
The sunken vessel, identified by British maritime risk group Vanguard as the cargo ship Alfa Watan, suffered catastrophic structural damage before submerging with an undisclosed cargo and an unknown number of crew members aboard. (YORUK ISIK/Handout via REUTERS)
Search-and-rescue operations involving the Bulgarian Navy, Air Force and Border Police remained underway to locate the missing crew and monitor for environmental threats, the outlet said.
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Chell suggested the apparent coordination between the attacks was particularly significant.
“Not only are you using pretty sophisticated equipment, but you’re also doing it in a coordinated manner,” Chell said.
“These two ships were going opposite directions. One was actually just coming, and had left Ukraine the day before,” he said.
“These things coordinated and were struck relatively at the same time. So another level of coordination has unfolded here,” Chell added.
The second ship, identified by Vanguard as the general cargo vessel ABLE, caught fire after being struck while carrying grain. (Tony Hogwood/Handout via REUTERS)
The second ship, identified by Vanguard as the general cargo vessel ABLE, caught fire after being struck while carrying grain.
A Bulgarian ferry crew evacuated all 18 seafarers aboard — 11 Turkish nationals and seven Indian nationals.
Two crew members suffered severe injuries and were airlifted to a medical facility in Varna, while the remaining 16 were transported safely to shore.
Radev convened an emergency government session following the strikes. While acknowledging it remained unclear whether the drones originated from Russia or Ukraine, he warned of the widening scope of the war.
“Such an attack within the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone is absolutely unacceptable,” Radev told reporters.
Search-and-rescue operations involving the Bulgarian Navy, Air Force and Border Police remained underway to locate the missing crew and monitor for environmental threats, the outlet said. (REUTERS/Petko Momchilov TPX IMAGES )
“If this war is not ended in time, it will continue to expand its spatial scope and increase the risk of even a global conflict.”
Chell said striking the two ships inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone could also have the effect of disrupting a crucial shipping corridor and creating fear among commercial operators.
“It all adds up to a perfect little scenario for the Russians to create chaos there, not just to disrupt the lane of economics for the region and in particular for Ukraine — a lifeline,” Chell said.
“The Russians are really taking a playbook out of the Iranians who have basically created enough chaos in the Strait of Hormuz where the operators can’t take the chance to put their ships through there,” he added.
The strikes came amid a surge in attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea, including an incident off Romania’s coast Monday in which two people died in a ship fire.
Ambrey, a British firm specializing in global maritime risk, recorded more than 210 strikes on commercial ships between July and the end of September.
Small ground devices form part of an expanding “mesh” network that allows Russian drones and repeaters to relay encrypted signals across multiple connections, making drones far harder to disrupt. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP via Getty Images)
Zelenskyy later warned that Ukrainian intelligence had obtained information indicating Russia was preparing a major new assault.
“We’ve got updated intel on Russia’s preparations for a massive strike,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I ask you, please, to take care of yourselves and respond to missile threat alerts.”
“Ukrainian services and our Air Force are ready to respond — as much as our defenses allow,” Zelenskyy continued. “And a lot depends on our partners — every country in the world that has the defensive capabilities we need and can provide them to us.”
“It’s very important that there be the political will to do this — particularly in the United States and in Europe,” he added.
