Ukrainian ambassador explained its stance on drone incident in Bulgaria

Olesia Ilashchuk, Ukraine's Ambassador to Bulgaria, has said its defence forces did not deliberately direct drones towards Bulgaria or any of Kyiv's other partner countries, and that Ukraine is willing to co-operate in investigating the 8 August drone crash.

On 10 August, Ilashchuk and Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova discussed the 8 August UAV crash in Bulgaria. Ilashchuk told Petrova that Ukraine's defence forces had never directed UAVs towards Bulgaria or any other partner country.

She also emphasised that Ukraine is fully open to co-operation in conducting the investigation, and stressed that the root cause of the incident is Russia's war against Ukraine.

"Russia is increasingly intensifying its attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, which also poses a direct threat to neighbouring countries," Ithe Ukrainian Embassy in Bulgaria wrote on Facebook.

The Ukrainian ambassador and the Bulgarian prime minister agreed to continue close co-ordination as part of the investigation into the causes of the incident.

During the conversation, Petrova reportedly conveyed the Bulgarian side's serious concern and stressed that any incursion into Bulgarian airspace was unacceptable.

Bulgaria's Ministry of Defence said that the UAV is most likely a Ukrainian-made Maia decoy drone.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that if the drone is indeed Ukrainian, it ended up in Bulgaria not because of any deliberate action by the Ukrainian side, and that Kyiv is open to working with Sofia to establish all the details.