Six commercial ships were attacked in the Black Sea in the economic space of Bulgaria and Romania, of which three sank, with people injured, killed or missing.

Omissions

• The figure 'six' matches reporting of 'six attacks in 10 days' (The Guardian, 18 October 2026), but the sources found describe attacks, not always a one-to-one count of ships hit; on 13 October alone two cargo ships were hit in one overnight wave, so the number of vessels struck may differ from the number of attacks.
• The explicit 'three sank' breakdown could not be confirmed in the sources found: only the sinking of one ship off Bulgaria (13 October) and one sinking off Romania reported on 23 October 2026 are individually documented; the latter was published after the session date, so the speaker could not have known it on 20 October.
• Attribution to Russia is not uniform across the incidents: Reuters notes Bulgaria 'stopped short of explicitly accusing Russia', while Romania explicitly blamed Russia; the claim presents the attacks as a single Russian campaign.
• All sources found are journalistic secondary reports; no primary official tally (e.g. IMO, NATO, Bulgarian/Romanian naval authorities) was located within the search budget.

Sources

• SecondaryThe Guardian — Intensifying drone attacks on ships in Black Sea bring war to new level"Six attacks in 10 days by suspected Russian drones mark dramatic escalation in maritime conflict."
• SecondaryReuters — Eleven sailors missing after drone sinks ship off Bulgaria"Two cargo ships were hit by drones overnight and one was sunk, Bulgarian officials said. Bulgaria stopped short of explicitly accusing Russia."
• SecondaryFrance24 — Seven missing off Romania after latest Black Sea drone attacks"Romania reported seven people missing on Thursday after two drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea – where several vessels have been hit."
• SecondaryPolitico Europe — Drone hits another ship in Black Sea near Romania, killing at least one sailor"Over the last month, drones have hit several cargo ships and chemical tankers close to Romania and Bulgaria — both NATO members — killing more..."
• SecondaryAl Jazeera — Romania blames Russia after drone sinks ship in the Black Sea"Romania has blamed Russia for a drone strike that sank a cargo ship off Romania's Black Sea coast, killing one crew member and leaving three..."