Bulgarian and Romanian media ask who fired the drones; Russia’s RBK says ‘unknown’ and blames Kyiv

Full analysis

What happened Why it matters How each country tells it Where accounts conflict Room for disagreement Our assessment What happened Sources and evidence

What happened

A Liberia-flagged container ship, the CONTSHIP JET, was struck by three maritime drones off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast on 28 October while sailing from Haifa, Israel, to the Romanian port of Constanța. Bulgarian Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov confirmed the attack at a news conference in Sofia, telling journalists the ship was hit about 21 nautical miles southeast of Shabla, inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. His confirmation came at the close of a trilateral meeting with Romanian Defence Minister Ștefan-Radu Oprea and Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler, convened in the Bulgarian capital on Black Sea security. The strike occurred while the ministers were still in session, a detail Mediafax notes explicitly, citing Bulgarian public television BNT.

The ship’s owner, Contships Management, confirmed the attack, according to Newsit citing Reuters. The vessel’s 18 crew members evacuated on life rafts: Newsit reports 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians, and says first information indicates all were safe. Mail.ru News, citing the Bulgarian outlet maritime.bg, also reports the entire crew safe. But Mediafax, citing BNT and Bulgarian National Radio, says Bulgarian authorities had not yet confirmed the safety of all crew. Fishermen near the scene reported the container ship caught fire immediately, according to Mediafax, which adds that Bulgarian National Radio reported at 12:43 that some sailors were on a life raft near the vessel and that another drone was heading toward them. Bulgarian border police sent a boat to the area and a tanker was directed to the damaged ship, Mediafax reports.

No one has claimed the attack, and Bulgarian authorities say they do not know who was behind it. Mediafax states this bluntly: "the authorities do not know who is behind the attack of Wednesday against the container ship CONTSHIP JET." The other accounts in the set attribute the strike to no actor at all. Mail.ru News describes the attackers only as "unknown maritime drones." The Bulgarian daily Duma, confirming Stoyanov’s account, simply records that the ship was hit.

This is the fifth merchant vessel struck in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone since early October. Duma supplies the chronology: on the night of 6 October, the Able and Alpha Watan were hit — the Alpha Watan sank — followed on 13 October by strikes on the Chelsea 3 and HS Dignity, the latter of which also sank. Mediafax, citing a BNT chronology, adds that 11 of the HS Dignity’s 16 crew are missing, and that the Alpha Watan’s crew remain unaccounted for after the search was called off. TIB reported on 24 October that a drone had sunk the Comoros-flagged cargo ship Khoryv off Romania’s coast, killing one of its 13 crew and leaving three missing.

The three defence ministers issued a joint declaration after the Sofia meeting, reported in full by Turkey’s Manset Haber and independently by Mediafax. The statement condemns attacks on commercial shipping, calls for respect for international law, including the Montreux Convention, and warns that disruptions to Black Sea traffic threaten global supply chains, food security and energy security, particularly for fragile regions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. "These tragic incidents represent a dangerous escalation of tensions and create serious risks for the safety of navigation," Mediafax quotes the declaration as saying. Manset Haber adds that the three countries agreed to increase intelligence-sharing, strengthen early-warning capacity, and coordinate with NATO as needed, and that the next consultations will be held in Ankara and Bucharest.

Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler added a note of caution, Mediafax reports, saying that any decision must be taken prudently to avoid aggravating the situation, and that Ankara maintains contacts with both Russia and Ukraine and asks both to protect commercial ships and halt attacks on them.

Russian officials, carried only by Mail.ru News, put the blame on Ukraine. The piece quotes Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking in September, saying Russia was "not the initiator" of Black Sea strikes and that Ukraine had opened a "Pandora’s box" by striking Russian infrastructure. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is quoted calling Ukraine’s actions in the Azov and Black Seas "pure terrorism." Neither statement addresses the CONTSHIP JET attack directly; both are presented as context for the broader pattern of strikes.

Why it matters

The attack extends a month-long pattern of strikes on civilian shipping into a NATO member’s maritime zone, and it does so without any actor claiming the action. The Bulgarian, Romanian and Turkish ministers responded with a declaration that condemns the attacks, invokes the Montreux Convention and international humanitarian law, and commits the three states to closer coordination. What the declaration does not do is name any perpetrator. That absence, noted in the Bulgarian and Romanian reporting, is the story’s unresolved core.

For the three coastal states, the stakes are explicit. Manset Haber reports the ministers’ statement warning that disruptions to the Black Sea’s grain, fertiliser and energy corridors threaten not only the region but global supply chains, with particular consequences for fragile regions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The Turkish account foregrounds Ankara’s role in the security format and its caution about escalation; Güler’s warning that measures must be taken prudently, as Mediafax reports it, signals that the coastal states are balancing deterrence against the risk of widening the war.

For Romania, the attack matters because the ship was bound for Constanța and a Romanian minister was in the room when it happened. Mediafax reports that France has deployed an ATLANTIQUE 2 maritime patrol aircraft to Romania, operating from Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base since 18 October until 6 November, to identify navigation hazards and protect critical infrastructure in Romania’s exclusive economic zone. The mission supplements Romanian naval patrols with ships, helicopters and drones.

For Russia, the Black Sea shipping story is an opportunity to shape attribution. Mail.ru News is the only outlet in the set that carries a Russian official response, and its framing is structured to lead the reader from "unknown drones" to Kremlin statements blaming Ukraine. This is the coverage pattern that defines the international argument over the attacks.

How each country tells it

• 🇧🇬
  duma.bg · Bulgaria · original reporting

  Treats the strike as the latest in a month-long series of drone attacks on shipping in Bulgarian waters, supplying the full chronology of earlier Black Sea hits.
• 🇹🇷
  Manset Haber · Turkey · original reporting

  Leads on the joint Turkish-Bulgarian-Romanian defence ministers’ declaration, emphasizing Montreux compliance, NATO coordination and protection of grain, fertiliser and energy routes.
• 🇷🇴
  Mediafax · Romania · carries Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR)

  Reports the attack through the ship’s Romanian destination of Constanța and Romanian Defence Minister Ștefan-Radu Oprea’s participation in the Sofia meeting, while providing the most operational detail.
• 🇷🇺
  Mail.ru News · Russia · carries RBK

  Offers a terse, unattributed account of ‘unknown’ drones attacking the ship, then pivots to Russian officials Peskov and Lavrov blaming Ukraine for Black Sea strikes.
• 🇬🇷
  Newsit · Greece · carries Reuters

  Leads on the vessel’s Greek ownership, reports that Contships Management confirmed the attack, and identifies the 18 crew as 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians.

Where accounts conflict

The central conflict is over attribution, and it is not a conflict between two named claims but between a named narrative and the absence of one. Bulgarian and Romanian reporting states that authorities do not know who attacked the CONTSHIP JET. Mediafax carries the explicit line from Bulgarian authorities; Duma reports the attack without attributing it. Mail.ru News is the only outlet that names a culprit indirectly, and it does so at a remove: the article calls the drones "unknown," then quotes Peskov and Lavrov blaming Ukraine for Black Sea strikes in general terms, leaving the reader to connect the two. No source carries any Ukrainian reaction, and no source carries any claim of responsibility.

There is also a discrepancy over the crew’s safety. Mail.ru News reports all 18 crew are safe, citing maritime.bg, and Newsit, citing Reuters, reports the same based on first information. Mediafax, citing BNT and BNR, says Bulgarian authorities had not yet confirmed the safety of all crew as of its publication. The difference is between a state’s unconfirmed report and an outlet’s sourcing, and it reflects the fog of the immediate aftermath.

Room for disagreement

The strongest case against reading this as a moment of dangerous escalation is the one Turkey’s defence minister made in Sofia. Güler, as Mediafax reports, warned that any decision must be taken with prudence, that Ankara maintains contacts with both Moscow and Kyiv, and that the priority is avoiding approaches that would increase tension. The Turkish account in Manset Haber leads with the declaration’s call for Montreux compliance and respect for international law — a framing that treats the attacks as a manageable maritime security problem, not a casus belli. A reader of the Turkish coverage alone would come away with the impression that the regional format is functioning, that the coastal states are coordinating, and that the next step is another meeting.

Russia’s narrative, carried by Mail.ru News, offers a second argument: that the attacks are Ukrainian strikes on Russian infrastructure, and the Black Sea shipping casualties are collateral from a conflict Kyiv escalated. If that account gains traction, the story becomes about Ukrainian maritime actions, not about who has been striking civilian vessels off NATO’s coast. The absence of any Ukrainian response in the set leaves that narrative uncontested in at least one national press.

What happened

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