UK warns OSCE over deadly attacks on Black Sea merchant shipping

The UK warned the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 7 October that a series of Black Sea shipping incidents off Romania and Bulgaria had killed sailors, left others missing and put civilian crews at risk. The statement, published on 8 October, followed the sinking of a cargo ship off Romania and drone strikes on two ships in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. Investigators have not established who launched the drones that hit the vessels off Bulgaria.

Colonel Joby Rimmer, the UK’s senior military adviser to the OSCE, told the organisation that Britain stood with Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye after the incidents. The statement called for the protection of civilian shipping and freedom of navigation, while saying investigations into the attacks were under way.

What happened to the ships off Romania and Bulgaria

On 5 October, the Turkish-owned Royad Mammadov caught fire and sank in Romania’s exclusive economic zone while carrying corn from the Ukrainian port of Izmail to Italy, according to the UK statement. Two crew members died and Romanian authorities rescued 11. The Associated Press also reported the deaths and rescues, but said Romania’s Interior Ministry had not identified what caused the fire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russian drones.

In the early hours of 6 October, the Alfa Watan and the Able were hit by aerial and sea drones in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, according to Bulgarian officials cited by AP. The Alfa Watan sank. The Able caught fire, and a Bulgarian ferry evacuated all 18 people aboard. The UK described the strikes as the first such attack on shipping in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone.

The ferry Dioscuria rescued the Able’s crew, whom Euronews identified as 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals. They were taken to Varna. Two were hospitalised, one with burns and one with a head injury. The UK statement described two Able crew members as seriously injured and praised the Bulgarian and Romanian rescue services and the ferry’s crew for their response.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the Able was carrying wheat, Euronews reported. He said the Alfa Watan’s cargo was not yet known. The attacks brought the danger to commercial crews beyond waters immediately off Ukraine and into an area where, according to both AP and Euronews, a strike on shipping had not previously been reported during this war.

Who launched the drones remains under investigation

Bulgarian authorities had not identified the origin of the drones that hit the Alfa Watan and Able. Zelenskyy blamed Russia, while the Russian Embassy in Sofia denied Russian involvement in those strikes, AP reported. Bulgaria’s President Iliana Yotova called for a swift investigation to establish who was responsible and said the war had significantly worsened security in the Black Sea.

Rimmer told the OSCE that Russia’s Defence Ministry had announced on 5 October that its forces struck two cargo vessels in the Black Sea. That statement does not identify the perpetrators of each incident described in the UK speech. The cause of the Royad Mammadov fire also remained unconfirmed in AP’s account of the Romanian authorities’ findings.

The UK said attacks that fail to distinguish military objectives from civilian vessels, or cause excessive incidental harm relative to an anticipated military advantage, may breach international law. It called on Russian forces to meet their legal obligations. That warning was the UK’s assessment of the risks; the investigations cited in the statement had not yet resolved responsibility for the strikes off Bulgaria.

Why the shipping incidents matter beyond the Black Sea

The UK statement attributed to Türkiye’s Chamber of Shipping a count of 226 attacks on civilian and commercial vessels since the war began, most of them this year. That total is an attributed figure in the speech. Rimmer said repeated attacks endangered crews of different nationalities, could increase insurance costs and could restrict the movement of food. The supplied reports do not establish a measured change in insurance prices or food shipments from these incidents.

The UK said the crews affected during the week included Turkish, Indian and Azerbaijani nationals. Euronews reported that Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry identified the captain who died after the Royad Mammadov sank as an Azerbaijani citizen and said another Azerbaijani crew member was missing. The ministry said the families had been informed and were receiving support.

The next findings depend on the investigations. AP reported that Bulgaria and Romania had asked the European Commission for satellite imagery and that the EU was providing it. For now, the confirmed rescue outcomes and the unresolved question of responsibility are distinct: sailors were killed off Romania and remain missing off Bulgaria, while investigators have yet to identify publicly who launched the drones that struck the two ships in Bulgaria’s zone.