Bulgaria’s Defense Ministry: Maya Decoy Drone Likely Crashed Near Gas Pipeline

Preliminary analysis of the debris suggests that a Maya decoy drone most likely crashed near the former Kardam border checkpoint, close to the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defense reported the incident.

The ministry said that drones of this type are widely used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, there is currently no evidence that the incident was intentional.

The incident occurred on August 8 at 8:10 a.m., Prime Minister Rumen Radev said at a briefing following a meeting of the Security Council under the Council of Ministers.

“There are no casualties or damage to buildings. The area has been cordoned off. We continue to monitor the situation,” Radev said after an emergency government meeting.

According to the prime minister, the drone exploded approximately 200 meters from a Romanian compressor station and about one kilometer from a Bulgarian compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, which supplies gas, including to Ukraine.

“We can say with certainty that the Ukrainian Defense Forces did not deliberately direct any assets toward Bulgaria. We are now establishing all the circumstances of what happened and all the technical facts,” said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi.

In early August, Militarnyi reported that Russia had likely begun using captured Ukrainian long-range drones for provocations.

This may be indicated by footage from a Ukrainian interceptor drone that was published by Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to the President of Ukraine on the development of defense technology.

The aircraft’s silhouette, straight-wing proportions, fuselage shape, and tail assembly correspond to the characteristic features of Ukrainian FP-1/2 series unmanned aerial vehicles.

Russian forces may have obtained such drones after they were forced to land as a result of electronic warfare suppression or crashed due to technical malfunctions. The Russians could have restored and reprogrammed partially intact aircraft or used them to create copies.

In July, Poland’s Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz warned that Russia had intercepted a significant number of Ukrainian drones and could use them for false-flag operations.

According to him, such aircraft could be used for provocations against Poland and other NATO countries, creating the impression of a Ukrainian attack and increasing political tensions among the allies.

Later, Lithuania’s military intelligence confirmed information about Russian plans to use captured Ukrainian drones for provocations. According to Lithuanian intelligence, Russia could use captured Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles to attack critical infrastructure in the Baltic states.