Bulgarians vote for president in shadow of Russia’s war on Ukraine

Polling stations opened in Bulgaria’s presidential election, a campaign shaped by economic hardship and drone attacks on Black Sea shipping. President Iliana Iotova and former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov led a field of 27 candidates in pre-election polls. The attacks on merchant ships likely killed about two dozen international seafarers and heightened concerns about the expanding reach of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Gyurov, backed by pro-Western reformist parties, supports Ukraine, while both leading candidates have condemned the strikes.