A drone entered Bulgarian airspace from Romania on Saturday morning and exploded in a sunflower field near the Kardam border crossing, roughly one kilometre from a compression station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline linking Turkey to Ukraine. No casualties were reported.
The Bulgarian Defence Ministry said wreckage analysis indicated a model widely used by the Ukrainian military, though it added there was no sign the incident was deliberate. Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson said Kyiv's armed forces did not intentionally direct any equipment toward Bulgaria. Bulgaria's foreign minister has summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for a meeting on 10 August.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the drone carried a significant quantity of explosives and acknowledged that neither Bulgaria nor Romania detected the aircraft, citing delays in delivering precision radar systems. He pledged to tighten surveillance along the border and bolster security at strategic sites.