A blaze has occurred at a Starlink satellite internet service facility near Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, Bulgarian Prime Minister Roumen Radev has said.
The incident follows a fire at a SpaceX station in Poland, which serviced the Ukrainian military, in late September. Ukraine has relied heavily on Starlink during the conflict with Russia for battlefield communications and controlling drones.
Earlier this week, an MP for the opposition Democratic Bulgaria coalition, Ivaylo Mirchev, claimed that masked men had deliberately set a Starlink facility outside Sophia on fire, destroying 11 out of the 17 antennas at the site. He also published a video purporting to have captured the incident.
🚨 Two masked men reportedly set fire to 11 of 17 antennas linked to SpaceX's Starlink network near Sofia, Bulgaria. via WarSurv https://t.co/RgvLK4sasG
Radev confirmed that the blaze had happened when he appeared before the Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday, but declined to say if it was a result of an arson attack.
“An investigation is underway. Just a little more patience, and there will be a result,” the prime minister said, urging other government officials against disclosing any details of the probe until it’s concluded. “If the specific findings are revealed, we will not achieve the outcome we are aiming for,” he added.
Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told lawmakers that additional measures to protect Starlink stations and similar facilities across the country will be implemented. However, he stressed that they are private sites and that the primary responsibility for their security lies with their owners.
However, Democratic Bulgaria MP Bozhidar Bozhanov wasted no time waiting for the results of the investigation of the blaze to lash out at Moscow. “Why are you afraid to name Russia? Why don’t you act like Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk,” he asked Radev.
The prime minister responded by saying that Bozhanov apparently has “a crystal ball and therefore knows who the perpetrator is.”
Tusk previously called the fire at Wola Krobowska outside Warsaw last month “another act of hybrid warfare.” Polish special services coordinator Tomasz Siemoniak said this week that there was “no doubt that Russian intelligence services are behind this act of sabotage,” but provided no proof to the accusations. Two Turkish nationals have been arrested in Germany in connection with the incident.
Russia has consistently rejected claims of it engaging in any sabotage activities in Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin and various officials have said that the so-called “Russian threat” is only being promoted by Western politicians to scare their public, distract people from the mounting problems in their own countries and justify growing military spending.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials and frontline commanders complained that Starlink terminals had suddenly stopped working when drones flew faster than 100 mph, disrupting some combat missions. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied giving any instructions to restrict Kiev’s access to the service, saying that doing so is the prerogative of the American military and US President Donald Trump personally.
The problems occurred as Trump is working to increase pressure on Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, which he blames for surging global energy prices.
Last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that allowing Starlink to be used to facilitate Ukrainian strikes deep into Russian territory would be “a very harmful, potentially dangerous and misconceived step.” Moscow has all the means to respond to such actions, he warned.
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