So who is sending the drones?

Transcript

1. On Wednesday at noon, a sea drone hit a container ship off the coast of Bulgaria.
2. Bulgaria's defence ministry says 3 hits were observed.
3. All 18 crew were rescued.
4. Since 5 October,
5. 9 merchant ships have been hit by drones or caught fire off Bulgaria and Romania.
6. So who is sending the drones?
7. This is the Black Sea.
8. Russia and Ukraine are at war on its northern shore.
9. On its western shore are Bulgaria and Romania, both in the EU and in NATO.
10. The reports add up to 3 sailors confirmed dead, and 31 to 33 missing.
11. Accounts differ over one crew.
12. 9 ships, 8 flags.
13. Ship databases list most with Turkish or Greek owners or managers,
14. and one as run from Ukraine.
15. Several said they were heading for ports on the Danube River.
16. That says where they were headed, not why they were hit.
17. So who do governments blame?
18. After the first attacks, Ukraine's president blamed Russia,
19. and said Ukrainian forces had no operations in that part of the sea.
20. On the 14th, Bulgaria's prime minister told parliament the logic pointed to Russia,
21. but that his government could not prove it.
22. 2 days later, Russia's foreign ministry said there
23. was no evidence of anyone's involvement in those attacks off Bulgaria.
24. On the 23rd, Romania's president blamed Russia for an attack off his coast.
25. What evidence has been described?
26. For Wednesday's attack,
27. Bulgaria says its navy and a French patrol plane observed the strike.
28. On another ship, the Chelsea 3,
29. investigators reportedly took chemical swabs.
30. On the 21st, the defence minister said the material still had to be identified:
31. part of the ship, a drone, or something else.
32. And an EU spokesperson said satellite images
33. related to the attacks were going to both countries.
34. We checked Europe's free satellite radar ourselves.
35. Almost 18 hours after the Chelsea 3 was hit,
36. our detector found one bright target near the reported attack area.
37. The image shows detail down to about 20 metres.
38. We cannot tell what the target is, or who attacked.
39. Two governments blame Russia.
40. Nothing published that we could find shows who sent the drones.