Bulgaria should ask NATO to trigger Article 4, Nikolay Denkov, head of the "We Continue the Change" parliamentary group, said in an interview. He pointed to four drone attacks on ships in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone and in the border area in recent weeks.

This report follows our earlier story on prime minister Rumen Radev's decision to summon Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova after a new attack on merchant ships off the Bulgarian coast. Drones hit two ships near Byala and Krapets, and one of them sank.

If the Black Sea is closed, a fuel crisis could follow, Denkov warned.

He said the prime minister cannot hide that the sea is close to being shut down at once. Bulgaria must prepare for the worst so that it never comes to that.

The MP said Bulgaria should ask NATO for radars, missiles and defence systems. He believes the country is not protected against such attacks, and called them an open, aggressive violation of Bulgaria's sovereignty.

Russia has come to Bulgaria's borders to stop fuel supplies to Ukraine, and Bulgaria is now a frontline state not by its own choice, Denkov said.

Today "Progressive Bulgaria" blocked an extraordinary plenary session called at the request of PP and backed by GERB and "Democratic Bulgaria". The session was to discuss a pardon, granted by Iliana Yotova as vice president, to a man convicted of drug dealing.

Denkov believes the session was cancelled because "Progressive Bulgaria" has something to hide. He said there are other such cases, and that someone is covering for drug traffickers in the country. He asked why this request was approved out of 130 pardon requests.

Follow-up: Radev tells MPs Bulgaria reacted quickly to attacks on ships