Ukraine War: After the attack in Poland, Starlink antennas also caught fire in Bulgaria

After an attack on a Starlink ground station in Poland, a possibly similar incident has become known in Bulgaria. There was a fire in a satellite internet service facility back in September. Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed the incident near the capital during parliament's question time in Sofia. The satellite network is a strategically important part of Ukraine's defense in the war against Russia.

The facility has so far been kept secret

The fire had previously been made public by the pro-Western opposition alliance Democratic Bulgaria (DB). Due to ongoing investigations, Radev did not want to provide any further details about the incident.

According to the opposition alliance, 11 of 17 antennas were deliberately set on fire at a secret Starlink facility near the Bulgarian capital Sofia on September 9th. These antennas served as the main connection to SpaceX and were used in the Ukraine war, according to the opposition alliance. Pro-Western opposition parties suspect that Russia could be behind the incident.

On September 23, a fire also broke out in a Starlink terminal south of Warsaw. On Tuesday, two suspected saboteurs who are said to have carried out the attack were arrested in Nürtingen near Stuttgart. The government in Warsaw suspects Russian secret services were behind the crime.

Just this week it became known that SpaceX may also be hindering the work of the Ukrainian armed forces. The government in Kyiv accuses Elon Musk's space company of having throttled the speed of the Starlink network. "Our Defense Forces received no advance warning about this restriction, and this led to the interruption of several missions," wrote presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov.