It was three o’clock in the morning on October 6, the hour when the sea is at its darkest, when drones found two merchant ships about 128 kilometres off the coast of Bulgaria. They were sailing inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, waters where, until that night, no ship had ever been attacked.
The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan was torn open and sank where it was struck. The Palau-flagged Able, its holds full of wheat, burst into flames. A Bulgarian ferry came to the rescue and took all 18 crew members to safety; two of them, badly injured, were flown to hospital in Varna.
After an emergency government meeting, Prime Minister Rumen Radev called the attack unacceptable. The war, he warned, is spreading across the map, disrupting shipping on the Black Sea, driving up insurance costs and raising the risk of a wider conflict. President Iliana Yotova summoned the national Security Council, while authorities watched the water for any sign of an oil spill.
From Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was quick to answer: Ukrainian forces were nowhere near the area, he said, and this was a combined Russian attack with sea and air drones. Bulgaria is more cautious and says the origin of the drones is still under investigation. Moscow stayed silent, and NATO referred all questions to Sofia. Only a day earlier, a Turkish-owned grain ship had gone down in the Black Sea after a drone strike; Romanian authorities said two people died.
The same night, Russian missiles and drones struck Ukraine’s power stations and grids, including in Kyiv, killing at least 19 people. In Pryluky, a missile tore into an apartment building. As autumn turns to winter, Russia is once again aiming at the warmth and light of Ukrainian homes.
Bulgaria belongs to both NATO and the European Union, and this attack brings the shadow of the war to the alliance’s doorstep. Last month NATO’s top commander, US Gen. Alex Grynkewich, urged allies to openly name those behind drone incidents and sabotage once the evidence is clear. Poland needs no reminder of what that means: Polish authorities say saboteurs working for Russia tried to blow up a railway line to Ukraine in November 2025. The Black Sea may be far from Warsaw, but the lesson is close to home.
