Yesterday's attacks off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, in which two merchant ships were attacked with drones, one sinking and the other bursting into flames, and the subsequent rescue operations in which 18 people were evacuated, are the focus of British and American publications.
The attack - the first of its kind against vessels in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Black Sea - was carried out at around 03:00 on Tuesday night, about 70 nautical miles from the coastal town of Byala.
Great Britain
Moscow has not commented on the incident, which came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian forces of striking a merchant ship carrying corn in Romania's exclusive economic zone, about 30 nautical miles south of the village of Sfantu Gheorghe, the BBC reports. Si.
The sunken ship was sailing under the flag of Togo. Named "Alpha Watan", it was a Turkish cargo ship and was reportedly heading for the port of Sulina, Romania.
It is not clear what the "Alpha Watan" was carrying or how many people were on board.
A nearby Bulgarian ship responded to the scene after the attack. However, when its crew arrived at the scene, they saw only an overturned boat, life rafts and life jackets. Search operations were immediately launched for the missing crew and for any signs of environmental threat.
The crew members of the second ship were rescued - including two who were injured in a fire on board. Eleven of them are Turkish citizens and seven are Indian. The cargo ship, named "Able", was flying the flag of Palau and was carrying grain.
Its last reported position was five nautical miles (9 km) from the sunken "Alpha Watan".
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev condemned the strikes as "a gross violation of international law and maritime affairs" and stated that "such an attack within the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone is absolutely unacceptable".
Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Black Sea is just over 29,000 sq. km, which represents about 6 percent of the total area of the Black Sea.
The British maritime risk management company "Vanguard" also reported on the incident, notes the British newspaper "Independent".
Volodymyr Zelensky said that it was a Russian drone attack. During his traditional daily video address to the nation, he stressed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had not conducted any operations in Bulgarian waters.
USA
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described drone strikes on merchant ships in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea as unacceptable, the New York Post reported.
"Merchant ships and their innocent crews were targeted, there were casualties," she noted in an article in "Ex".
"Although the exact circumstances of these incidents have not yet been established, the events are alarming. Attacks on civilian ships are unacceptable. We fully sympathize with the countries of the European Union on the eastern flank," she also wrote.
Support was also expressed by Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who assured Bulgaria of Budapest's full solidarity regarding the attack in the Black Sea.
An expert on drones warned that the double precision strikes are a signal of a dangerous escalation of tensions and a possible "preparation for a larger-scale invasion" by Russia, writes "Fox News".
"They probably used the "Geran-4" unmanned aerial vehicle or the "Maran" unmanned sea drone to destroy the ship," he told "Fox News" yesterday. Cameron Chell, founder of drone company Draganfly, on the first ship strike.
"The reason this ship wasn't just hit by an aircraft or a drone is that (the) "Geran"s tend to descend at a pretty steep angle when they're in the final attack phase," Chell said. "There really aren't any precision drones that fly close to the surface where they would need to strike to cause a hit that would sink this ship quickly enough," he added.
Chell said the location of the attack and its hybrid nature could be beneficial to Russia by creating greater uncertainty throughout the region.
"We see how much geopolitical chaos there is that goes with this, and that is exactly what Russia would gain from in the region," Chel stressed. "The hybrid element here really blurs the lines between traditional warfare," he added, describing the attack as "an extension of strategy and tactics.".
According to Chel, the apparent coordination between the attacks is particularly significant.
"These two ships were sailing in opposite directions. One had actually just arrived and had left Ukraine a day earlier," he added. "These things were coordinated and were struck at relatively the same time. So here another level of coordination is revealed," Chel added.
Chel stressed that the strikes against the two ships in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone could also disrupt the functioning of a key maritime corridor and create fear among commercial operators. "All this becomes an ideal scenario for the Russians to create chaos there, not only to cut off the economic corridor for the region and in particular for Ukraine, which is vital," Chel said.
Source: www.bta.bg