Overview
- Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said a drone crossed from Romanian airspace and detonated roughly 100–200 metres inside Bulgaria on Saturday without causing casualties or damage to infrastructure.
- The blast landed in a sunflower field near the Kardam border crossing about 1,000 metres from a Trans‑Balkan pipeline compressor station and about 200 metres from a Romanian compressor station, officials said.
- Bulgaria’s Defence Ministry said initial analysis of the wreckage points to a Maya decoy drone model widely used by Ukrainian forces while also noting the device carried a significant explosive load.
- Kyiv denied any deliberate targeting, said it is cooperating with Sofia’s inquiry, and Bulgaria has boosted border surveillance, redeployed anti‑drone assets to the Romania frontier, and will raise the incident at NATO’s North Atlantic Council.
- The episode highlights persistent blind spots in detecting small, low‑flying drones in the region and could accelerate NATO and national investments in radar, electronic‑warfare and counter‑UAV systems to protect energy and border infrastructure.