Suspected bomb-laden drone discovered on Bulgaria's Black Sea shoreline, authorities investigating
An unidentified drone with a suspected payload of explosives was found on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria in the village of Tyulenovo during the night of Sept. 17-18, local outlet Novinite.com reported with reference to Bulgaria’s Defense Ministry.
It is not yet known how the UAV ended up on the Bulgarian coast. There is also no information about who the drone might belong to.
"Last night around 9.30 p.m. we received a call saying that the waves had washed up an object that looked like a drone," said Marian Zhechev, mayor of the Shabla community, to which Tyulenovo belongs.
“As of 10.10 p.m. last night, the area was cordoned off. The current actions are to isolate the area to protect the lives and health of people living in the area until the arrival of the Ministry of Defense.”
When asked if the origin of the drone was known, he said that "from what we can see from afar, it is one of those used in the war in Ukraine."
At the same time, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense noted that five soldiers from a specialized group had arrived at the site in the morning. They will reconnoiter the site and then decide where to dispose of the object.
Tyulenovo 70 kilometers from Bulgaria’s border with Romania, where the wreckage of Russian UAVs has already fallen during attacks on Ukraine.
Shahed drones in Romania – What is known
Russia carried out a massive air attack on southern Ukraine using Iranian-made Shahed drones on the night of Sept. 4.
Read also: Romania summons Russian envoy over drone debris
Some of these drones fell and detonated on the territory of Romania, a NATO member state, according to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko and the State Border Guard Service.
Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvăr on Sept. 6 acknowledged for the first time that parts of a Russian drone used to attack Ukraine had indeed fallen on his country’s territory.
On the same day, Bucharest launched an investigation and reported the incident to its NATO allies. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called the falling debris a "serious violation of sovereignty."
Read also: More drone debris found in Romania after Russia attacks Ukraine on Sep. 13
NATO member countries expressed “strong solidarity” with Romania in a statement published by Romania’s ambassador to the alliance, Dan Neculescu. However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated on Sept. 7 that the alliance did not see any indication that there had been a deliberate Russian attack on Romania.
Fragments of another drone similar to those used by the Russian army were also found in Romania on Sept. 9. After that, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană said that the alliance does not believe that Russia deliberately planned to attack the territory of Romania.
The wreckage of a UAV was again found in Romania near the villages of Nufăru and Victoria on Sept. 13, after a Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast.
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