site.btaUPDATED After Drone Attack on Two Ships Close to Bulgarian Coast, Opposition Criticizes Power-Holders

In the wake of drone attacks on two merchant vessels in the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea in the early hours on Tuesday, the opposition in Parliament slammed the power-holders and the President for their positions and actions – or for failing to act, especially for failing to secure adequate defence of the Black Sea. More specifically, President Iliana Iotova was criticized for refusing to convene a meeting of the Consultative Council for National Security (CCNS) over this and earlier incidents.

Eventually, President Iliana Iotova convened a meeting of CCNS over "current risks and threats to Bulgaria's maritime security and critical infrastructure in the context of the war in Ukraine". She did not make any comment.

The two ships were hit around 2 a.m. and one of them sank. The crew of one was rescued but the other is unaccounted for.

GERB urged Prime Minister Rumen Radev and ministers to be heard in Parliament over the incident. GERB-UDF MPs Hristo Gadzhev and Daniel Mitov said at a news conference that Radev has failed to clearly identify those responsible for the attack.

The Prime Minister did say that it is yet to be established where the drones came from "but they were clearly either Russian or Ukrainian".

"I hope there will be a meeting of the Consultative Council for National Security. If not, we will propose that as early as Wednesday the Prime Minister, the ministers of defence, interior and transport, and the heads of the security services be heard in Parliament, and I hope Progressive Bulgaria will act responsibly," Gadzhev said.

Gadzhev recalled that these were not the first incidents or threats in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, noting that similar incidents had occurred in 2023, 2024 and 2025. He said this was why a mine countermeasures group had been established by Bulgaria, Turkiye and Romania.

"While the President and the Prime Minister are acting like 'hippies at Woodstock' and pretend that the war does not concern them, it is escalating," Gadzhev said.

UDF, which are the junior partner in GERB's parliamentary coalition, described the attack as "an act of aggression by the Russian Federation in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone". They said that although the attacks do not constitute a violation of Bulgaria’s territorial integrity because they occurred outside its territorial waters, the party regards them as a hostile act undermining the Government’s soft approach. They called on the Government to coordinate its position with Bulgaria’s NATO and European Union partners.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) leader Delyan Peevski said that answers for the drone attack and all things concerning the security of Bulgarian citizens, should be demanded from Prime Minister Rumen Radev because of "his majority of 131 MPs in the National Assembly, his Council of Ministers, his security services and his President".

Democratic Bulgaria (DB), too, called for emergency parliamentary hearings involving the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the Military Intelligence Service, the State Intelligence Agency, as well as the Defence Minister and Prime Minister Rumen Radev. In a Facebook post, DB Co-Chair and MP Ivaylo Mirchev said the President must urgently convene the Consultative Council for National Security.

Continue the Change leader Assen Vassilev said such incidents could have been prevented if information had been shared with Bulgaria’s allies. “Under the leadership of Radev and Iotova, Bulgaria opted out of the common anti-drone shield system that Europe is building, and consequently we cannot have a full exchange of information with our neighbours,” he said. He slammed the President for not convening the CCNS.

Asked by reporters if he believed the Consultative Council for National Security must meet over the drone attack, Prime Minister Radev said that it is for President Iliana Iotova to decide. His view, however, is that there is a risk for the Consultative Council to turn into a platform where the drone attack situation will be misused. "When incompetent people take advantage of such incidents, we hear all kinds of stupid theories," he said. 

Vazrazhdane argued that the ongoing support provided by the Bulgarian state to Ukraine is causing the war in Ukraine to escalate and reach Bulgaria’s borders. Party leader Kostadin Kostadinov said he understood that Prime Minister Rumen Radev intended to convene the Consultative Council on National Security, but questioned what the body would decide, given that a drone had directly attacked Bulgarian territory just two and a half months earlier. He said that on that occasion, a gas transmission station near the village of Yovkovo, close to the Bulgarian-Romanian border, had narrowly avoided being blown up, adding that the drone had been Ukrainian. Kostadinov said Ukraine had not subsequently apologized for the incident, nor had the Bulgarian state requested an apology. Moreover, he said, Bulgaria had continued supplying the Ukrainian army with weapons and ammunition.

Later in the day, representatives of the parliamentary Committee on Defence and Committee on Internal Security and Public Order met with a delegation from the US State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, with discussions touching upon the incident. The sides discussed the possibility of US experts assisting Bulgaria in developing plans to counter unmanned aerial vehicles.