A drone likely from Ukraine explodes in Bulgaria near a gas pipeline

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SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A drone entered Bulgarian airspace on Saturday and exploded close to an international gas pipeline shortly after crossing the border from Romania. There were no casualties or damage.

Drones straying into NATO airspace have not been uncommon since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The defense ministry in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, later said there were indications the drone was the kind used by Ukrainian armed forces and that the incident was likely accidental. Bulgaria and Romania are both members of NATO and the European Union.

A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson said the Ukrainian military was looking into the incident but that it did not deliberately target Bulgaria. Heorhii Tykhyi said on Saturday that Ukraine and Bulgaria were in “close contact” to establish the circumstances of the incident.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the drone exploded just after 5 a.m. about 100 meters (109 yards) inside Bulgarian territory. It was not detected or identified while flying through either Romanian or Bulgarian airspace.

“There are no casualties or damage to buildings. The area has been cordoned off. We continue to monitor the situation,” Radev said following a government emergency meeting.

Radev said the unmanned aerial vehicle exploded around 200 meters (218 yards) from a Romanian compressor station, and about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from Bulgaria’s compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and strengthen surveillance. 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.

The incident would be raised at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council early next week, Bulgaria's Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said.

The drone appeared to have carried a significant amount of explosives, given the strength of the blast and the column of black smoke, Stoyanov said, adding that such drones are difficult to detect because of their small size and low flight altitude.

At first it was unclear where the drone had originated or whether it was linked to Russia or Ukraine, but Bulgarian Ministry of Defense later said that an “initial analysis of the wreckage indicates that it is most likely a “Maya” decoy drone. This type of drone is widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces.”

“At this time, there is no reason to believe that the incident was intentional,” the statement said.

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Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.