The Ministry of Defense (MoD) will hardly be able to establish with absolute certainty where the drone came from, which was discovered by citizens on the coast of the village of Tyulenovo on the Northern Black Sea on Sunday evening and, with some delay, was neutralized by military sappers on Monday morning.
“The team on the ground decided not to take the risk of separating the munition from the airframe and blew up the entire drone. We don’t have the drone, but photos and debris, and we will try to analyze its origin from those.” said Defense Minister Todor Tagarev, who was heard on the case by the parliamentary defense committee.
According to him, it will hardly be possible to say with complete certainty where the drone came from.
The case
The drone with a mine attached to it was found by citizens on Sunday evening and military sappers arrived at the scene at 9am on Monday and defused it a few hours later.
Defense Minister Todor Tagarev explained that the mine attached to the drone was later defused because “the assessment was that there was no need to act at night because that would only lead to risks”.
“It can certainly be assumed that it is related to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the minister said.
“Obviously he fell into the water, the current pulled him to the shore. It could have happened hours ago, it could have happened days ago. There’s no way to do a full analysis, the more important thing was to destroy this ordnance.”Tagarev explained a few hours after the drone was already destroyed.
The Minister of Defense reacted calmly and said that there was no need to raise the level of combat readiness in our country, and pointed out, that he sees no reason to resign, as BSP, ITN and “Vazrazhdane” called on him earlier.
“We don’t know when or how he appeared”
The drone was not detected by the Bulgarian air defense.
“Not registered by radar stations. We don’t know when or how he appeared. These are difficult targets for the standard air defense system. It’s a very small area aircraft, it flies low,” Tagarev explained.
“This war is inevitably associated with increasing risks to our security of a very different nature. Russia is bombing Ukrainian ports that are only a few hundred meters from Romania’s territory, and there are already cases of fallen debris from drones and other munitions. We have no reason to think that this war will bypass us, there are risks for Bulgaria as well.” he added.
Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov commented for his part that first it should be established where the drone came from and it will be considered whether a meeting of the Security Council of the Council of Ministers should be convened.
“We first need to see where exactly the drone came from. If it fell somewhere in the sea and was then washed ashore, there is obviously no need to convene a Security Council if it turns out that it flew close to our coasts, it creates risks for us. I’ll hear the experts first.” Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov pointed out.
Despite the minister’s explanations, the case once again recalls the problems with Bulgarian radars. The case also raises questions about the reaction of the Ministry of Defense and the monitoring of the Black Sea in the conditions of military operations and tension due to the export of Ukrainian grain.
Earlier this month, the Romanian military found debris believed to be from a Russian drone near one of the arms of the Danube River.
“It’s not quite safe”
The drone was found right next to the village marina.
The Ministry of Defense announced later that the sappers found on the spot that it was attached to it 82-mm mortar high-explosive ammunition.
They have determined that due to its badly damaged condition, moving and transporting the ammunition to a landfill or other suitable disposal site is impossible.
It was decided to destroy it with a controlled explosion at the place where it was discovered.
“It is a mine mounted on a drone that should be disposed of.” said the former Minister of Defense and one of the prominent ammunition experts Valentin Radev.
He reported that it was an 82 mm mine that weighed about 3 kg.
“It’s not quite safe,” Radev told bTV.
According to him, when detonated, this mine is dangerous 100 meters away, and with the fragments – about 300 meters away.
Former Deputy Minister of Defense Yordan Bozhilov commented that it is difficult to determine from which of the two warring countries he came – from Russia or from Ukraine.
He recalled that both countries use drones extensively.
“You know that Russia mainly bombards civilian infrastructure with drones. Ukraine also uses drones – for reconnaissance and for strikes,” commented Bozilov.
Institutional inaction or a well thought out decision?
The police cordoned off the area after a report from hotelier Radoslav Rusev.
Rusev told BTV that the call to tel. 112 was made on Sunday evening at 9:40 p.m., but at first they did not take him seriously.
“Nine hours later – complete inactivity of the institutions, we are waiting for the military to fall asleep. Everyone is notified, but no one does anything.” the hotelier added.
According to him, the explosive device is 50-60 cm, and the drone itself is about 3 meters.
Later, the Ministry of Defense announced that a team left Varna for Tyulenovo at 6:10 a.m.
“The specialized team consisting of five military personnel went out at 6:10 this morning. On the spot, the specialized team will conduct a reconnaissance of the object, after which a decision will be made where to dispose of it.”
The servicemen act after receiving a request from the regional governor of the Varna Region and by order of the chief of defense.
Military Minister Tagarev explained for his part that there was no delay, but a considered decision.
The drone is located right next to the village marina.
The mayor of Shabla Marijan Zhechev explained that “there is currently no real danger that this munition will explode.”
“The danger was greater when this thing was in the water. Given the bad weather and the high excitement, it is fortunate that this ordnance did not explode.” he clarified.
According to Zhechev the area around the drone has been cordoned off since 22:10 last night so that there are no casualties if something happens to the mine.
Zhechev called state institutions to organize more frequent monitoring in order to detect such objects in time.
“My appeal is to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior, in the person of the Border Police, to make periodic patrols with helicopters and drones for possible detection of such objects in the water and their disposal in time, because a more serious incident would cause a such unexploded ordnance”.
The reactions in the parliament
Later on Monday, the MP from DPS delyan peevski commented that it is necessary for Tagarev to provide information to the parliamentary defense committee.
“We know nothing about the case,” Peevski said.
According to the BSP leader Cornelia Ninova on the other hand, the case of the fallen drone shows “an emanation of the absence of a state”.
Toshko Yordanovchairman of the parliamentary group “There is such a people”, said that “there are a number of reasons for the resignation of the Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev”.
I have the unpleasant feeling that he is behaving like the defense minister of another countrysaid Yordanov.
We have been asking for Tagarev’s resignation for weeks, so in this particular case BSP and “There is such a people” have been supporting the demand of “Vazrazhdane” for weekssaid the leader of “Vazrazhdane” Kostadin Kostadinov.
2023-09-18 15:25:56
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