Photo: Axel Bührmann / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY). File photo of a container ship, not the vessel attacked.
Turkey has warned Russia and Ukraine to stop attacking commercial vessels in the Black Sea, in its most direct intervention yet, after sea drones struck another container ship off Bulgaria on Wednesday while the region's defence ministers were meeting to discuss the growing threat to shipping.
Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler issued the warning in Sofia after a security meeting with his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts, saying Ankara reserved every legal right over attacks on Turkish-flagged or Turkish-owned vessels. The warning follows a string of strikes that Reuters reported have likely killed about two dozen international seafarers in recent weeks, with at least six merchant vessels attacked.
A strike during the ministers' own meeting
Bulgarian Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said three sea drones struck the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet about 21 miles southeast of Shabla, near Cape Kaliakra, inside Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone. The vessel was sailing from Haifa in Israel to Constanta in Romania when it was hit, sustaining serious damage to its starboard side and catching fire, according to Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT and other reports. All 18 crew members were rescued, and a tanker was sent to assist the damaged ship.
"While this meeting was taking place, a container ship was struck by three naval drones in the adjacent waters," Stoyanov said, according to BNT. He called the incidents "a dangerous escalation of tensions" that creates serious risks for the safety of navigation.
It was not clear who carried out Wednesday's attack. Ukraine has denied involvement in earlier attacks on ships near Bulgaria this month and accused Russia of carrying them out; Russia has denied involvement. Bulgaria's prime minister has said the attacks appear to benefit Russia. Responsibility for the latest strike has not been established, and this post does not attribute it to either side.
Turkey's warning — and its proposal
Guler said commercial vessels had been hit by drone attacks, stray mines and missiles during the conflict, and called on both sides "to act with common sense, in line with the principle of navigational safety in open seas." He said Turkey was constantly conveying warnings to both sides to keep commercial shipping out of the conflict zone and to halt attacks on civilian vessels immediately.
Ankara said it is awaiting responses to a proposal it has conveyed to Russia and Ukraine aimed at stopping the intensifying attacks and ensuring the safe shipment of grain from the region. Turkey, a NATO member that has maintained ties with both Moscow and Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, helped mediate the earlier Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Russia left in 2023.
A widening threat to Black Sea shipping
Wednesday's strike is the latest in a series near NATO members' coasts. On October 6, two vessels were attacked near Bulgaria, one of which sank, and on October 13 the Malta-flagged Chelsea 3 was struck, according to reports of those incidents. France temporarily moved a maritime patrol aircraft to Romania to help identify navigation dangers, and NATO has said it will send more patrol aircraft, radar systems and drones to the Black Sea.
The three ministers in Sofia condemned the drone attacks on commercial shipping, adopted a joint statement and agreed to set up a trilateral coordination mechanism covering intelligence sharing, maritime surveillance and early warning, with further political-level talks planned in Bucharest and military consultations in Ankara.
For now, the warning changes little on the water: grain, energy and container traffic through the Black Sea still depends on whether the attacks stop. Turkey's decision to speak in its bluntest terms yet — and to reserve legal rights over its own flagged and owned ships — signals that Ankara sees the campaign against merchant shipping as a threat not only to Ukraine's exports, but to the safety of the sea lane itself.
Sources: Reuters (Guler's warning, legal-rights remark, grain proposal, ship details, seafarer toll, vessel count); Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT via Hromadske and United24 Media (Contship Jet, 21-mile location, 18 crew rescued, fire and starboard damage, Stoyanov's remarks, trilateral coordination mechanism); Turkish Minute (crew rescue via BNT, proposal). Responsibility for the attack is unconfirmed.