ATHENS, Aug 8 (Reuters) – A drone entered Bulgarian airspace from Romania’s airspace on Saturday and exploded near the village of Kardam, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said in a statement, adding that there were no casualties or infrastructure damage.
The drone entered Bulgarian airspace at 0810 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and went off in a sunflower field near the border with Romania, he said.
The explosion site is 1,000 meters (3,281 ft) from Bulgaria’s compressor station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, which stretches from Turkey to Ukraine, and 200 metres from Romania’s compressor station.
Drone incursions that western governments have linked to the Russia-Ukraine war have increased in frequency and raised anxiety that members of the NATO alliance need to bolster their defences against security threats.
Radev said the security of strategic sites in the country and surveillance along the Bulgaria-Romania border would be increased.
He also said the area of the explosion had been cordoned off and the exact type of drone will be determined after the site and the drone’s remains are examined.
The unmanned aerial vehicle was not detected earlier in Bulgarian or in Romanian airspace, which confirms that the detection and identification of drones remains a challenge, Radev said. He also noted a delay in the delivery of high-precision radars to the Bulgarian army and promised action.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Stoyan Nenov; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Barbara Lewis)
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