President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Defense Forces of Ukraine did not conduct any operations in the waters of Bulgaria, where two ships were attacked last night. He made the statement in his traditional video address to the nation, published on the YouTube channel of the President's Office, Ukrinform reported.
"Two civilian ships were attacked last night in the waters of Bulgaria. One sank, the other suffered serious damage. We sympathize with all the victims. The Defense Forces of Ukraine did not conduct any operations in this area of the sea“, Zelensky noted.
The President informed that currently the Ukrainian authorities, through intelligence and special services, are clarifying all available information about this latest attack in the Black Sea against civilian ships. Zelensky said that this latest tragedy involving civilian vessels is a continuation of Russian attempts to make the western Black Sea completely unnavigable.
"The entire volume of data has been clarified with the Bulgarian side: our naval forces have contacted their colleagues in Bulgaria. It has been established that this is a Russian combined attack with sea and air drones“, said the Ukrainian head of state, quoted by Ukrinform.
The president noted that he had instructed the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Ukrainian intelligence and all Ukrainian services to interact as fully as possible with partners so that both they and Ukraine have more opportunities for defense. Zelensky thanked everyone who is currently responding in principle to such attacks by the Russian Federation.
He recalled that on the eve of this event, a ship was hit in the waters of Romania. "Now - Bulgaria. The Russians are planning exactly this - to constantly increase the escalation. Their drones are already constantly entering Moldova and this is not the first attack on ships in the Black Sea in the waters of our partners. Attacks on our ports are also constantly continuing. There must be a clear response to this Russian aggressiveness. Absolutely categorical retaliatory actions are needed", the president emphasized.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced today at a meeting with institutions in the Council of Ministers that at around 3:00 this night, two merchant ships were attacked with drones - sea and air. He indicated that both ships were damaged. One ship, flying the flag of Togo, sank. The second ship attacked was damaged and caught fire on board. The crew was evacuated. Two injured people were transported by a Navy vessel to Varna, where medical teams from the Naval Hospital were mobilized. One has a head injury and the other has burns, said the city's regional governor, Mario Smrkov. There is absolutely no information about the crew of the sunken ship, he added.