Bulgaria Recalls Ukrainian Ambassador Following Drone Strike on Its Territory

Kyiv recalled its ambassador to Bulgaria, Sofia, “for consultations” on Monday, according to the Foreign Ministry as reported by AFP, following the explosion of a drone near the Bulgarian-Romanian border and close to a strategically important gas pipeline.

The recall of Foreign Minister Vesselina Petrova-Shamova came after Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defense announced that the drone in question was a Mayak camouflage drone “widely used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” adding in a statement that there was currently no indication that the incident was deliberate.

Minister Shamova’s team clarified that the meeting could not take place before Monday because Ambassador Olesia Ilyashuk is currently in Kyiv.

On Saturday, Ukraine affirmed that it had “not intentionally” targeted Bulgaria, pledging to conduct an investigation, after a drone of a type used by the Ukrainian military exploded near a gas pipeline in the country.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev explained that the wreckage of the drone, found on Saturday, “exploded in the immediate vicinity of the Kardam border crossing with Romania,” located near the Black Sea in the northeast of the country, “and at a distance of one kilometer from the pumping station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline,” which connects Turkey and Ukraine.

Following an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council of Ministers, he noted that the drone “fell in a sunflower field,” causing no casualties.