Ukrainian drone crashes near critical gas pipeline in Bulgaria

A Ukrainian drone has crashed in Bulgaria, exploding near a critical gas pipeline, the country’s Defense Ministry has said.

The UAV entered Bulgarian airspace from Romania at around 8:10 am on Saturday and detonated near the former Kardam border checkpoint, just one kilometer from Bulgaria’s compressor station on the Trans-Balkan Pipeline. No casualties or damage were reported.

The pipeline forms part of the Vertical Gas Corridor, a strategic route that transports gas across Southeastern and Central Europe, linking Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

“Noise made by the drone was detected by Romanian border police, and a loud explosion was subsequently heard by the General Toshevo border police patrol,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said at a press conference. Radev added that the UAV flew at low altitude and carried “a significant amount of explosives.”

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry later said that an initial examination of the wreckage indicated that it was likely a Maya decoy drone used by the Ukrainian military. “At the moment, there is no reason to believe that the incident was intentional,” the ministry said, according to The Sofia Globe.

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has summoned Ukrainian Ambassador to Bulgaria Olesya Ilashschuk to discuss the incident.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy told journalists on Saturday that “Ukraine’s defense forces did not deliberately direct any assets towards Bulgaria.” He added that Kiev was “establishing all the circumstances of what happened and all the technical facts.”

Ukrainian aerial and naval drones have increasingly strayed into neighboring countries, with incidents reported from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. Most EU governments have declined to condemn Kiev, instead attributing such incidents to Russian electronic warfare.

In June, four Ukrainian naval drones detonated in and around the Romanian port of Constanta after Kiev said it had lost control of them. Days earlier, a drone struck an apartment building in Galati. Romanian officials said it was a Russian Geran-2 loitering munition that had veered off course, a claim Moscow denied.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of seeking to spread the conflict and provoke NATO members into a direct confrontation with Russia.

Radev, a Euroskeptic who took office after the previous pro-EU government collapsed amid mass anti-corruption protests, has argued that the Russia-Ukraine conflict should be resolved diplomatically rather than through weapons deliveries to Kiev.

Last month, Radev said Sofia had nothing left to provide after delivering 13 military-aid packages. He also withdrew Bulgaria from the so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, a group advocating stronger support for Ukraine.