Published on •Updated
Ukraine insisted on Saturday it had not targeted Bulgaria after a drone of a type used by Kyiv’s army crashed in the country, promising to explain the circumstances of the incident.
ADVEReadNOWISEMENT
ADVEReadNOWISEMENT
“We are in close contact with the Bulgarian side to clarify the circumstances. We can say with certainty that the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not intentionally direct any assets toward Bulgaria,” foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhyi said.
According to Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev, the drone entered Bulgarian airspace from Romania before exploding 1,000 metres from a compressor station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, near the former Kardam border checkpoint between the two countries.
“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,” he told a press conference before the drone had been identified.
Increased surveillance needed
The prime minister said both Bulgarian and Romanian authorities had failed to pick up the drone as it made its way through their respective airspace. Increased surveillance operations will now be put in place in the region, he added.
According to opposition lawmaker Ivaylo Mirchev, Kardam is one of the key locations on the Vertical Gas Corridor, a strategic route for transporting liquefied natural gas from Greece across Southeastern and Central Europe. The corridor links Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
In late July, Romanian forces shot down three drones in its airspace over the course of just three days in late July. Romanian officials have said that at least one of those drones has been determined to be of the Shahed-type used by Russian forces.
Both Romania and Bulgaria sit on NATO’s eastern flank, bordering the Black Sea, and face increased security challenges relating to Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Romania has seen a surge in drone-related incidents and incursions into its airspace in recent months, heightening tensions in the region and prompting an outpouring of solidarity from EU officials.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has labelled such incidents “a direct consequence of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”