Bulgarian Navy chief: 18 mines destroyed in Black Sea since start of Russia’s war on Ukraine

Eighteen mines have been detected and defused in the Black Sea since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Bulgarian Navy chief Rear Admiral Kiril Mihailov said, according to a February 4 report by Bulgarian National Telvision.

Explosive devices have been detected in the waters of Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye, Mihailov said.

The most recent mine destroyed was on January 9.

In the middle of January, Bulgaria took over the command of the joint mine action group of the three countries.

Ships, helicopters and a diving group of the Naval Forces are patrolling the Black Sea to ensure the safety of shipping.

“For us, there are no false alarms, we respond to every signal,” Mihailov said

“No matter how incredible and suspicious it is, we are obliged to check to ensure that the sea is clean.”

He said that a mine destroyed in May 2024 had been spotted and reported by a member of the public.

“Thanks to this signal, we localized and destroyed the mine,” he said.

“We hope that as soon as the conflict is over – the mine action group in the Black Sea will be the basis and core of powerful mine action forces that will begin cleaning the mine action fences placed on the Ukrainian coast. Only in this way can we eliminate the original source of floating mines,” Mihailov said.

(Archive photo: Ministry of Defence)

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