Bulgarian Authorities Identify Drone Near Kardam as Likely Ukrainian-Used Maya

A drone that entered Bulgarian airspace from the direction of Romania and exploded near the border has been identified as most likely a Maya decoy drone, a type widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces, according to an initial analysis by Bulgaria's Defense Ministry. Ukrainian authorities have denied intentionally directing any drone toward Bulgaria and said they would investigate the incident.

Further reading: Drone Breaches Bulgarian Airspace, Explodes Near Romanian Border

The drone exploded at around 8:10 a.m. on Saturday, about 100 meters inside Bulgarian territory near the former Kardam border checkpoint in the Dobrich region. It fell into a sunflower field close to the Bulgarian-Romanian border, roughly 200 meters from a Romanian compressor station and about 1,000 meters from Bulgaria's compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

No one was injured and there was no damage to buildings, infrastructure or the surrounding agricultural land. The area was immediately cordoned off, while Border Police, National Police and Defense Ministry teams arrived to determine the type and circumstances of the drone.

The incident prompted Prime Minister Rumen Radev to convene an emergency meeting of the Security Council at the Council of Ministers. Radev said the drone had entered Bulgarian airspace from the Romanian direction and exploded shortly after crossing the border.

"There were no casualties among people, buildings or infrastructure," Radev said, adding that the drone was larger than a conventional consumer device and carried enough explosive material for the blast to be heard from a considerable distance.

The initial assessment by the Defense Ministry concluded that the remains most likely belong to a Maya decoy drone. The ministry said the type is widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces, while emphasizing that there was currently no evidence that the incident was deliberate.

Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov also said the device was a Maya decoy and rejected the possibility of treating the incident as an intentional attack against Bulgaria. He said specialists had photographed and collected material from the wreckage for further examination.

Eftimov said the drone could carry up to five kilograms of explosives and suggested that electronic warfare systems may have diverted it from its original course. In his assessment, the device could have been pushed onto a trajectory outside the effective range of radar systems.

The admiral also made clear that the drone was not a Shahed. He said the question of whether the wreckage belonged to a Shahed had been examined and ruled out. The reference is significant because Romania has recently shot down three Shahed drones near its border with Ukraine, prompting Bulgaria to reinforce surveillance and air-defense capabilities in the region.

"There were no deliberate actions against Bulgaria," Eftimov said, describing the incident as a consequence of military operations taking place nearby. He noted that similar incidents have occurred in other countries, including Romania, Turkey and the Baltic states.

Ukraine has meanwhile denied intentionally directing any unmanned aircraft toward Bulgaria. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said Kyiv was maintaining close contact with Bulgarian authorities and was prepared to cooperate in establishing what happened.

"The Ukrainian Defense Forces did not intentionally direct any assets towards Bulgaria," Tykhyi said. He added that the Ukrainian side was working with Bulgaria to clarify both the circumstances and technical details of the incident.

Tykhyi said the wider cause of such incidents was Russia's war against Ukraine, which he said had created risks not only for Ukrainians but also for neighboring countries and other European states. Ukraine did not officially confirm that the drone was Ukrainian.

Bulgaria's Defense Ministry said the Maya type is widely used by the Ukrainian military, but the initial identification does not by itself establish where the particular drone came from or why it entered Bulgarian airspace. Authorities are continuing to examine the wreckage.

Romania has also said that its radar systems did not detect an aircraft crossing Romanian airspace toward Bulgaria. Romania's Defense Ministry said no air target movements were recorded that would indicate a possible trajectory through Romanian airspace before the explosion.

The failure to detect the drone has become one of the central issues surrounding the incident. Radev said neither Romanian nor Bulgarian radar systems had detected it, and Bulgaria had also received no information from the NATO Combined Air Operations Center in Torrejon, Spain, which monitors airspace in Southern Europe.

Bulgarian authorities said small drones flying at low altitude are particularly difficult to detect because existing radar coverage cannot guarantee continuous detection of such targets. The government has also pointed to delays in acquiring modern digital three-dimensional radars.

"The procedure for the delivery of modern, digital three-dimensional radars has been delayed for years," Radev said, adding that the Defense Ministry was working to accelerate their acquisition.

Eftimov said conventional radar systems are poorly suited to detecting very small targets and that even specialized anti-drone radars may detect such devices only at distances of around four to five kilometers. That leaves a very limited reaction time, he said, particularly when drones are flying over civilian areas.

He added that the Armed Forces are adapting to the growing threat and that Bulgarian companies are already working on counter-drone technologies. A project for anti-drone systems has also been launched under the SAFE mechanism. Bulgaria is expected to host a NATO experiment involving counter-drone capabilities in October, with Bulgarian companies potentially taking part.

Bulgaria had already strengthened its airspace surveillance after three Shahed drones were shot down by the Romanian Air Force in recent weeks. Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the country had increased radar coverage and deployed additional capabilities, including anti-aircraft missile systems, Cougar helicopters and Su-25 aircraft.

Additional radar stations were deployed at relevant radar posts, while measures were also taken to strengthen the protection of strategic sites. Following Saturday's incident, Border Police forces and equipment intended to detect and counter drones will be redeployed from the Turkish border toward the Romanian border.

Regional Governor Ruslan Tomov visited the site and said there was no reason for concern. He confirmed that the drone had self-detonated and fallen into a sunflower field and said there had been no damage to infrastructure or agricultural land.

Tomov also said traffic through the nearby border crossing was continuing normally and that no restrictions had been imposed. Defense Ministry officials and Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov arrived at the scene after the Border Police reported the incident, while experts began examining the remains.

The incident has nevertheless triggered political debate in Bulgaria, particularly because of the drone's proximity to the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline. Democratic Bulgaria co-chair Ivaylo Mirchev said the location near Kardam was significant because it is an important point for the transportation of non-Russian gas through the so-called Vertical Gas Corridor. He called for the possibility of a Russian connection to be investigated, including whether the incident could represent a hybrid action aimed at testing reactions around critical NATO infrastructure.

GERB said national security should not become a subject of party propaganda but demanded a rapid and complete investigation into the drone's origin, route and circumstances. The party said Bulgarians should be given clear answers on whether the incident was accidental or deliberate and whether there was a risk of similar incidents occurring again.

"It is particularly important to know whether there is a risk of recurrence," GERB said, arguing that Bulgaria needs stronger European and allied protection against drones along NATO's entire eastern flank, from the Baltic region to the Black Sea.

The Revival party, meanwhile, criticized the government for not involving the opposition in the emergency Security Council meeting and questioned the effectiveness of NATO's protection of Bulgarian territory. Party leader Kostadin Kostadinov demanded that authorities clarify whether the drone was Ukrainian, Russian or Iranian and questioned why the government had not immediately disclosed its type.

Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova also summoned Ukraine's ambassador to Bulgaria, Olesya Ilashchuk, for a meeting at the Foreign Ministry. The meeting is scheduled for Monday because the ambassador is currently outside the country.

Radev said Bulgaria would raise the incident at a North Atlantic Council meeting at the beginning of next week. Poland is expected to present information on ballistic missiles and their remains found on its territory, while Romania will report on recent drone incidents and Bulgaria will present details of the drone that exploded near Kardam.

The incident comes against a backdrop of increasing drone activity around Romania, which borders Ukraine. Romanian authorities have recently reported several incursions and shot down three Shahed drones. Bulgarian officials responded by increasing surveillance and moving additional air-defense resources toward the Romanian border.

Eftimov said the growing number of drone incidents represented a new challenge for Bulgaria and its allies, particularly because identifying, tracking and intercepting small unmanned aircraft requires several systems to work together in a very short period.

"We live in a dynamic time, in which the situation can change abruptly," Eftimov said, appealing to the public to understand the increased workload placed on the armed forces while authorities seek to maintain normal economic and civilian activity.

The investigation will now focus on confirming the drone's exact configuration, reconstructing its route and determining how it reached Bulgarian territory without being detected by either Romanian or Bulgarian radar systems. While the initial evidence points to a Maya decoy drone commonly used by Ukrainian forces, Bulgarian authorities have so far stopped short of attributing the incident to either Ukraine or Russia, and Ukraine has explicitly denied intentionally targeting Bulgaria.