A drone with explosives from Romania crashed this Saturday in northeastern Bulgaria, 100 meters from the border and very close to a gas pipeline, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev reported. “There are no casualties or damage to buildings, the area is cordoned off. We continue to monitor the situation. Measures have been taken to strengthen surveillance and security at the country’s strategic locations,” Radev added at a press conference.
Read more Video analysis | Between prayers and military, Espriella sworn in as president of Colombia
The incident, the first in Bulgaria since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, took place near the town of Kardam around 8:00 a.m. (7:00 a.m. in mainland Spain), Radev specified, who is considered pro-Russian due to his rejection of military aid to Ukraine. Although the leader did not indicate the origin of the drone, he recalled the recent shootdowns of Iranian-made drones used by Russia by the aviation of neighboring Romania.
According to the prime minister after a Security Council meeting, the device fell in a sunflower field about 1,000 meters from the Bulgarian compressor station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, an infrastructure that connects Turkey with Ukraine. The impact site is also barely 200 meters from the Romanian compressor station of the same cross-border energy network.
“One thing is more than certain: the drone contained a solid amount of explosives. Before crashing, it was not detected in Romanian airspace nor in Bulgarian airspace,” the prime minister emphasized.
Romanian authorities confirmed that their radar surveillance systems did not detect any aerial object crossing Romanian airspace into the neighboring country. “In the time interval prior to the explosion, there were no changes in aerial targets indicating a possible trajectory through national airspace toward Bulgarian territory,” the Ministry of Defense stressed in a press release, reports Raúl Sánchez Costa.
Radev, for his part, added that radar coverage in the region has been reinforced. According to the head of government, a NATO meeting will be held early next week in which Poland will present information about the ballistic missile incident recorded on its territory; Romania will inform allies about drones detected in its airspace, and Bulgaria will raise the case of the drone that exploded on its territory.
Read more Trump lost the Latinos. The Democrats still can’t find them
Asked whether the device was civilian or military, Radev explained that the damage caused by the explosion prevents determining its nature at the moment. “It is not a toy drone, it is a larger drone,” he stated.
The event occurs in a context of growing concern in several European countries about the presence of drones near strategic facilities. In Germany, authorities are investigating the sighting of two drones over a military base in Mechernich, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, about 35 kilometers from the Belgian border. According to the German Armed Forces, the devices were detected Thursday night and, once their presence was confirmed, military police were deployed before transferring the case to local police.
Also, just two days earlier, a drone loaded with explosives was found near a runway at Leipzig airport, a facility that functions as a civilian and NATO logistics center. The device was located near several Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo planes.
These episodes have revived the debate about NATO airspace vulnerability to new threats and about the allied countries’ capacity to protect critical infrastructure. Although the German government has not publicly attributed responsibility to any country, some lawmakers have pointed to Russia. The Russian embassy in Berlin rejected these accusations and called the Leipzig incident a “fabricated provocation,” denouncing that Moscow is being blamed without evidence.
Read more El Tigre put on the presidential sash and began to roar
