Bulgarian Drone Traced to Ukraine, Ministry Says

The drone that entered Bulgarian territory on Saturday and exploded near the village of Kardam was most likely Ukrainian. Following a preliminary analysis, the Bulgarian ministry of sefense stated that it was likely a Maya-type unmanned aerial vehicle, which is widely used by the Ukrainian military.

The Maya is a decoy drone designed to distract and overwhelm air defenses, causing them to waste ammunition and facilitating the penetration of attack drones or missiles.

The ministry sees no reason to believe that the airspace violation was intentional.

The drone entered from Romanian airspace and exploded at approximately 8:10 a.m. local time in a sunflower field near the border. The incident resulted in no casualties or damage to infrastructure.

The site of the explosion is located approximately one kilometer from the Bulgarian compressor station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, which runs from Turkey to Ukraine. It is only 200 meters away from the Romanian compressor station.

Rumen Radev announced increased protection of strategic facilities and enhanced surveillance of the Bulgarian-Romanian border. Neither Bulgarian nor Romanian systems detected the drone prior to the explosion. According to him, the incident thus confirmed ongoing problems with detecting and identifying unmanned aerial vehicles.

(Reuters, luc)