Blast Hits Bulgarian Arms Plant Supplying Ukraine
Blast Hits Bulgarian Arms Plant Supplying Ukraine
The News
An explosion set off a fire overnight at a Bulgarian weapons storage site run by arms maker EMCO, whose munitions are used in Ukraine, and investigators are looking at sabotage.
The blaze broke out Friday night near the village of Tsareva Livada in central Bulgaria and lit up the night sky, according to video broadcast by local media. No injuries were reported.
It is the second fire at an EMCO munitions facility in the past few weeks, after an explosion and fire at another of the company's depots in western Bulgaria in August.
What Burned
Slavcho Dimiev, manager of EMCO's production facilities, said the site mainly holds ammunition, including a small quantity of medium-caliber rounds. The full extent of the damage is not yet known.
Local police said employees were evacuated and the area was cordoned off, and that "at present there is no danger to the population." EMCO has ruled out human error.
Timeline
Explosions destroy a munitions depot in the Czech Republic, an incident Bulgarian prosecutors later linked to blasts at Bulgarian arms depots.
EMCO owner Emilian Gebrev survives an attempted poisoning that Bulgarian authorities say was carried out by Russian operatives; three Russian nationals were charged.
Russian forces invade Ukraine. NATO member Bulgaria goes on to support Kyiv's defense.
Bulgaria issues arrest warrants for six Russian citizens accused of involvement in destroying EMCO arms depots that stored munitions bound for Ukraine and Georgia between 2011 and 2020. Moscow dismissed the allegations.
An explosion hits the KNDS Ammo Italy arms manufacturing facility outside Rome. The Italian government said it had no reason to believe Russia was behind it; the Franco-German company said the incident was under investigation.
An explosion and fire strike another EMCO weapons depot in western Bulgaria.
Incendiary devices are thrown near the Munich headquarters of defense technology firm Rohde & Schwarz.
Fire breaks out at the EMCO storage site near Tsareva Livada. Workers are evacuated; no casualties reported.
Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev says the fire is under control and an investigation is underway.
Reactions
Demerdzhiev told journalists Saturday that investigators will look for a pattern across incidents: "We will review previous cases in which similar fires occurred in the warehouses of this company, as well as at other companies, in order to look for a possible connection or a similar pattern." He added, "We are not ruling out outside interference."
Dimiev, the EMCO facilities manager, said arms sites need more protection and framed the stakes in national terms. "If it is ultimately concluded that they have been targeted, this is not an attack on a particular company alone; it is an attack on the national interest," he said.
Russia has denied involvement in the earlier cases, with Moscow dismissing Bulgarian prosecutors' allegations. In the broader run of incidents at European arms makers, Russia has denied responsibility and called the accusations European war mongering.
What's Next
Bulgarian investigators are working to establish the cause of the fire and whether it is connected to the August blast at the other EMCO depot, with sabotage among the possibilities under review.
Damage at the Tsareva Livada site has yet to be assessed. EMCO's management has called for additional security measures at arms facilities, a decision that would fall to the company and Bulgarian authorities.
More
EMCO is run by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, whose company has repeatedly been at the center of sabotage allegations aimed at Russia. Bulgarian prosecutors have previously tied attacks on his facilities to Russian operatives.
The fire lands in a run of incidents at European defense firms supplying Ukraine — the Rome-area KNDS Ammo Italy explosion in August and the incendiary devices near Rohde & Schwarz in Munich this month — and follows a 2024 plot, uncovered by US and German intelligence, to assassinate Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger.
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