A drone carrying explosives crossed from Romania into Bulgaria, both NATO member states, on Saturday, August 8, and detonated close to the major international Trans-Balkan gas pipeline. The blast occurred near the village of Kardam, roughly 328 feet inside Bulgarian territory and only about 656 feet from a Romanian compressor station. Although there were no casualties or infrastructure damage, the incident prompted Bulgaria to strengthen surveillance along its border with fellow NATO member Romania. The incident came amid repeated drone incursions into NATO territory since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Drone explodes near major international gas pipeline
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the drone exploded shortly after 5 a.m. local time in a sunflower field. By: MEGA
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the drone exploded shortly after 5 a.m. local time in a sunflower field. The site was about 0.6 miles from Bulgaria’s compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, which links gas networks running between Turkey and Ukraine through Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova. The pipeline is of strategic importance because it can support gas flows in both directions, meaning it can supply gas towards Ukraine in the north. Although this makes the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline a viable target, there is still no reason to believe this was a deliberate “attack.”
“There are no casualties or damage to buildings. The area has been cordoned off. We continue to monitor the situation,” Radev said.
Drone went undetected
Neither Romania nor Bulgaria detected or identified the drone while it was crossing their airspace. By: MEGA
According to reports, neither Romania nor Bulgaria detected or identified the drone while it was crossing their airspace, as it is difficult to track small aircraft flying at low altitude. The Defense Ministry of Romania said in a statement on social media that its radar surveillance systems had not registered any aerial object whose trajectory indicated that it had crossed Romanian airspace toward Bulgaria.
Incident to be raised at upcoming NATO meeting
Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the size of the blast and the column of black smoke indicated that the drone was carrying a significant amount of explosives. According to Stoyanov, the incident is expected to be discussed at a meeting of NATO’s North Atlantic Council early next week.
“Following this incident, we will also redeploy border police anti-drone detection and countermeasure capabilities from the border with Turkey to the border with Romania,” Radev said.
Initial examination points to Ukrainian-made ‘Maya’ drone
An initial examination of the wreckage indicated it was most likely a ‘Maya’ decoy drone, widely used by Ukrainian forces. By: MEGA
While the drone’s origin was initially unclear, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry later said that an initial examination of the wreckage indicated it was most likely a “Maya” decoy drone, widely used by Ukrainian forces. However, authorities have said there is no reason at this stage to believe the incident was intentional. Ukraine said its military is examining the incident and denied deliberately targeting Bulgaria. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said Kyiv and Sofia are in “close contact” to establish what happened.