Ukraine Denies Targeting Bulgaria After Drone Explodes Near Key Gas Pipeline; 5 Dead in Overnight Attacks

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the incident in Bulgaria, where a drone exploded near the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline close to the Romanian border over the weekend [1][2]. Bulgaria’s defence ministry said the drone was of a type “widely used by the Ukrainian military,” and the foreign minister has summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for a meeting on Monday [1]. Kyiv stated it was “in close contact with the Bulgarian side to clarify the circumstances” of the incident [1]. The area has seen an intensifying drone war between Russian and Ukrainian forces [2].

The denial comes as Russia and Ukraine exchanged another round of overnight strikes, killing civilians on both sides. In Russia’s border region of Belgorod, Ukrainian drone attacks killed five people and wounded around two dozen others, according to local officials [3]. In Ukraine, Russian missiles hit a high-rise apartment building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing two people, with several more injured in a separate attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa [3].

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed its forces struck two Russian oil refineries and a Black Sea drilling rig, including a Rosneft facility with an annual capacity of 8.5 million tons of oil [4]. A fire broke out at the second refinery following the strike [4]. The attacks mark another escalation in Ukraine’s campaign against Russian energy infrastructure [4].