SOFIA: A Bulgarian drone explosion occurred near Kardam on August 8, causing no casualties or infrastructure damage.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced the incident after an emergency security meeting in Sofia. He said the aircraft entered from Romanian airspace and exploded in a sunflower field in northeastern Bulgaria.
The blast occurred about one kilometre from Bulgaria’s compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline and 200 metres from a Romanian compressor station, according to Bulgarian National Television.
The pipeline links the gas networks of Türkiye and Ukraine through Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova.
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence said an initial examination found the wreckage most likely belonged to a Maya decoy drone.
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The ministry said Ukrainian forces widely use the type but found no evidence that the incursion was deliberate.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi denied that Ukraine had intentionally directed any aircraft towards Bulgaria. He said Kyiv was cooperating with Sofia to establish the circumstances.
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Neither Bulgaria nor Romania detected the drone before the explosion. Romanian authorities said their radar systems recorded no target following a trajectory towards Bulgaria.
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Radev said Bulgaria would move anti-drone equipment from its Turkish border to the Romanian frontier. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Sofia would raise the incident at a North Atlantic Council meeting, the Associated Press reported.
