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Bulgaria: Unknown drone explodes near Romanian border

Deutsche Welle · back to the audit
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has said that a drone entered Bulgaria's airspace from the north and exploded near the Romanian border on Saturday morning.

According to the prime minister, there were no casualties or damage to infrastructure, as the drone exploded in a sunflower field 100 meters from the border with Romania. He noted that neither of the two neighboring countries had detected the drone.

Radev added that the incident occurred about 1,000 meters from Bulgaria's compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline route, which connects Turkey and Ukraine.

"Following this incident, we will also redeploy border police anti-drone detection and countermeasure capabilities from the border with Turkey to the border with Romania," Radev said.

However, he said it was believed the drone was carrying a significant amount of explosives given the strength of the blast and the black smoke it produced.

However, because the drone was damaged in the explosion, it was impossible to determine its type.

After analysing the debris, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry said the drone was of a type "widely used by the Ukrainian military." According to the AFP news agency, Bulgaria also summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for consultations.

Kyiv said it was "in close contact with the Bulgarian side to clarify the circumstances" of the incident, the latest case of a drone straying into NATO airspace as Ukraine fights off Russia's invasion.

Radev said the drone was not detected in Bulgarian or Romanian airspace because such drones are difficult to detect due to their small size.

The origin of the drone that exploded in Bulgaria and its potential connection to Russia or Ukraine are still unclear. Radev said that teams from the Bulgarian border police and the Ministry of Defense are working to determine the origin of the drone.

Bulgaria's Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the incident would be raised at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council early next week.