Bulgaria and Romania begin demining Black Sea

Bulgaria and Romania have begun to clear the route of the new Ukrainian grain corridor in the Black Sea from mines, Andrii Klymenko, the head of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies monitoring group, said.

“The mine trawling group of the Navy of Bulgaria and Romania has started trawling the waters of the Black Sea near the shores of Bulgaria on the route of the new Ukrainian sea corridor. Our Black Sea neighbors demonstrate a surprisingly short period from the decision to create a minesweeper group to the start of practical work,” Klymenko said.

The decision on demining the water area was made on October 12 after another meeting of Ukraine Defense Contact Group representatives in the so-called Ramstein format. Special ships went to the sea on October 16. It is one Romanian vessel and six Bulgarian vessels.

“It is very good that they are not limited to the territorial sea (12-mile zone, “territorial waters”) of Bulgaria, but also work in the adjacent zone, where the bulker routes of the new Ukrainian grain corridor pass,” Klymenko added.

The defense ministers of Türkiye, Romania, and Bulgaria met at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on October 12. During the negotiations, the parties decided to create a tripartite initiative for the joint fight against mines in the Black Sea.

Military diving teams from Romania, Bulgaria, and Türkiye have regularly cleared mines drifting in their waters since the start of the full-scale invasion.