Bulgarian authorities take an injured crew member to a hospital after two commercial vessels were attacked in the NATO member’s Black Sea economic zone on Oct. 6, 2026. (Bulgarian News Agency via AP)
A coordinated air-and-sea drone attack on two merchant ships in the Black Sea this week 80 miles from the coast of Bulgaria will be dealt with at NATO headquarters, according to the country’s government.
“These issues are being brought to NATO’s leadership, where it will be decided how and what the response should be,” Prime Minister Rumen Radev told Bulgarian National Television on Tuesday.
The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan suffered severe damage and sank, Bulgarian authorities said. Its crew remains unaccounted for, and by Wednesday, search-and-rescue efforts had ended. The crew of the Palau-flagged Able was recovered by a nearby Bulgarian ship.
NATO has yet to issue a public statement on the matter. The attack early Tuesday involved both airborne and maritime drones, Bulgarian military officials said.
The situation poses a heightened threat to commercial shipping as the Russia-Ukraine war increasingly spills into the Black Sea. In July, the NATO Shipping Center said it was aware of a rise in attacks on commercial shipping.
“These attacks pose serious risks to the safety of navigation, life at sea, and the maritime environment in the region,” the NATO office said in a statement at the time.
Meanwhile, allies have been on alert in recent weeks in connection with a series of drone incursions along NATO’s eastern flank.
So far, Bulgaria and other NATO allies haven’t assigned blame for the Black Sea attacks. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of carrying out the strikes.
Assigning blame when there are intrusions or other acts of sabotage must be a high priority for NATO, according to the alliance’s top military commander.
“Once we have confidence in the attribution, we do need to make that public,” U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich said in Brussels last week. “Bringing that attribution out publicly will let state sponsors know that we understand what they’re doing, and that increases costs on them.”
Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told the country’s national TV network that drone wreckage still needed to be recovered and analyzed. The strikes occurred in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone but outside its territorial waters.