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Turkey is now publicly pressing both sides. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday, at a joint press conference in Ankara with his Hungarian counterpart, that Russia and Ukraine are engaged in “tremendous attacks” to establish military superiority before winter, and that this “seriously impacts navigational safety in the Black Sea.” Fidan said world powers must not allow the region to become a new front in the war. Ankara says it is still awaiting responses to a proposal it conveyed to Russia and Ukraine aimed at stopping the attacks and ensuring the safe shipment of grain from the region. The statement lands after three incidents in three days across Romanian, Bulgarian and Russian waters, including the sinking of the Turkish-owned Alfa Watan and fires aboard the grain carrier Able and the crude tanker Rio.
Bulgarian officials said two commercial ships were hit by drones Tuesday morning in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, about 80 nautical miles from the Bulgarian coast east of Cape St. Atanas and Byala. The Alfa Watan, a Turkish-owned general cargo ship flying the Togo flag, built in 1976 with 3,160 deadweight tonnes and owned by Mersin-based Baraka Shipping, suffered major structural damage and sank while reportedly en route to Sulina, Romania. Bulgarian rescue teams found an overturned boat, rafts and life jackets but no crew, and Bulgaria has ended the search with no survivors found. The second ship, the Palau-flagged grain carrier Able (7,416 dwt, Istanbul-based Ocean Eagle), caught fire and was abandoned; the Bulgarian-flagged ferry Dioscuria rescued all 18 crew, 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals, with two injured and hospitalized on shore.
Separately on Tuesday, the Liberian-flagged Aframax Rio, carrying crude and 23 Indian crew, caught fire off Russia’s Black Sea coast near Sochi after being struck by what Russia’s Transport Ministry described as naval drones or an unmanned vessel. All 23 crew were rescued; one injury was reported in some accounts while a Reuters-sourced account reported none. Emergency teams could not initially approach the burning tanker, burning crude spread on the sea surface, and authorities in the Sirius federal territory temporarily closed beaches and coastline. The vessel had previously appeared on Ukraine’s sanctions list for carrying Russian crude. Neither the drone origin nor responsibility has been independently confirmed for any of the three incidents, and Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev, who called the EEZ attack “absolutely unacceptable,” pointedly did not attribute it to Russia.
The pattern is now a campaign. A day earlier, the Turkish-owned cargo vessel Royad Mammadov caught fire and sank in Romania’s exclusive economic zone with two killed and 11 rescued (covered October 6), and India’s foreign ministry said five Indian seafarers have been lost in recent Black Sea attacks. With Romania’s, Bulgaria’s and Russia’s waters all hit within three days, war-risk premiums on Black Sea routes are set to widen regardless of attribution.