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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In Bulgaria 8 on August [year] around five in the morning, a drone exploded near the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline’s compressor station that delivers gas, in particular to Ukraine. The drone crossed the border from the Romanian side near Kardam and flew roughly 100 meters into Bulgarian territory. There were no casualties or building damages; the area was cordoned off. In Sofia, an emergency government meeting was held to discuss the incident.
The agency reported this citing Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev. According to him, during flight in the airspace of Romania and Bulgaria, neither of the two radar complexes managed to detect or identify the drone.
"There are no casualties or damages to buildings. The area has been fenced off. We will continue to monitor the situation," Radev said after the emergency government meeting.
According to the prime minister, the drone exploded approximately 200 meters from the Romanian compressor station and about one kilometer from the Bulgarian compressor station on the Trans-Balkan pipeline.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and strengthen surveillance. After this incident, we will also redeploy border police assets to detect drones and counter them at the border with Turkey to the border with Romania," Radev said.
According to Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov, given the blast force and the column of black smoke, the drone likely carried a substantial amount of explosives.
The pipeline between Bulgaria and Romania was lost and then restored?
The Trans-Balkan gas pipeline is a system of trunk pipelines built at the end of 1980-s for transporting Russian gas through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria to Turkey. Historically gas moved along this route from north to south, but after the launch of the Turkish Stream and the cessation of Russian gas transit through Ukraine in January 1 of 2025, this direction lost its former significance.
Currently, the infrastructure is being redirected to reverse gas transportation from south to north — from Greece through Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova to Ukraine. The route provides access to liquefied natural gas from Greek terminals, as well as gas from Azerbaijan, Romania, and the Eastern Mediterranean. In July 2025, Naftogaz signed with the Azerbaijani company SOCAR the first gas supply agreement to Ukraine specifically via this route through Bulgaria and Romania.
Preparing for a difficult heating season in Ukraine.
Earlier Informator reported that Deputy Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal warned of a hard winter and advised Ukrainians to prepare in advance for possible disruptions with electricity and heat. The issue of stable gas supply, especially through new Balkan routes, is becoming increasingly urgent ahead of the cold season.
We also noted that Russia changed tactics, launching a scenario that even intelligence did not expect. Drone and missile strikes on energy and gas infrastructure remain a constant threat not only to Ukraine but also to neighboring NATO countries.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "У Болгарії безпілотник вибухнув біля газопроводу, яким постачають газ до України". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
