ADRONE entered Bulgarian airspace on Saturday and exploded close to an international gas pipeline shortly after crossing the border from Romania.Therewere no casualties or damage. Drones straying into NATO airspace have not been uncommon sinceRussia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.The Defence Ministry in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, later said there were indications the drone was thekind 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 spokes person said the Ukrainian military was looking into the incident but that it did not deliberately target Bulgaria.

 

Heorhii Tykhy i said on Saturday that Ukraine and Bulgaria were in “close contact” to establish the circumstances of the incident. Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev saidthe drone exploded just after 5 am about100 metres (109 yards) inside Bulgarianterritory. 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 followinga government emergency meeting. Radev said the unmanned aerial vehicle exploded around 200 metres (218 yards) from a Romanian compressor station, and about 1 kilometre(0.6 miles) from Bulgaria’s compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.