Unexplained Drones Near NATO Sites Stoke Fears
A drone laden with explosives went off near a gas-pipeline compressor station in Bulgaria, and others were spotted over a military base and an airport in Germany, stirring fears of sabotage on NATO territory. Bulgaria’s president said a “significant amount of explosives” had detonated about a kilometre from the station, with no casualties. Responsibility for the incidents was disputed and unconfirmed.
The episodes fed anxieties that the war in Ukraine could spill into NATO countries, days after a Russian missile strayed into Poland. But the attribution was far from settled: Bulgaria’s defence ministry assessed the device was probably a Ukrainian decoy drone that had drifted off course, with no sign of hostile intent, while Russia dismissed the German sighting as a “fabricated provocation”. Europe has seen a wave of unexplained drone incursions over airports and military sites in recent months, often impossible to trace. The incidents underline how vulnerable critical infrastructure has become. Watch whether investigators can establish who was responsible.