Eleven Starlink antennas set on fire in Bulgaria amid investigation into similar attack in Poland
Eleven of 17 Starlink antennas at a facility near Sofia, Bulgaria, were deliberately set on fire, Bulgarian lawmaker Ivaylo Mirchev said, raising concerns about the security of satellite communications infrastructure used in connection with Ukraine's war effort.
Mirchev, a member of the Yes, Bulgaria party, said two masked individuals were responsible for the attack. The date of the incident has not been publicly established.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed the incident during parliamentary hearings on October 14, according to hromadske.
The Insider reported that the antennas were located near the Plana satellite communications station south of Sofia, which also serves Ukrainian military communications.
Mirchev criticized Bulgaria's Interior Ministry and security agencies for failing to publicly disclose the incident.
“The Ministry of Interior has not reported the incident, nor has the media — it is as if it never happened,” he wrote, according to Bulgarian outlet Novinite.
He said he had submitted parliamentary questions about whether security agencies had received warnings of a possible attack and what measures they had taken.
The incident follows a suspected arson attack on a Starlink ground station in Wola Krobowska, Poland, on September 23.
Polish prosecutors said they had reasonable grounds to suspect the perpetrators may have acted on behalf of Russian intelligence services.
Two Turkish nationals suspected of involvement in the Polish attack were detained in Germany on October 12.
There has been no publicly confirmed evidence linking the two incidents or establishing Russian involvement in the Bulgarian attack.