The Ukrainian decoy drone was never detected, and Sofia says it now needs around ten anti-drone systems
A Ukrainian decoy drone crossed two NATO member states during the weekend without being detected, prompting Bulgaria to reach for European money it has already borrowed.
Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Monday that Sofia needs around ten systems to detect and destroy drones, and is working intensively through the EU’s SAFE loan scheme to buy them.
The craft entered Bulgarian airspace from Romania on Saturday morning and came down about 100 metres inside the country, near the former Kardam crossing in the north-east and roughly a kilometre from a Trans-Balkan pipeline compressor station. Nobody was hurt.
The defence ministry identified it as a “Maya” decoy used by the Ukrainian military, a wood-framed craft that can carry up to 5 kg of explosive over 400-600 km.
