While Prime Minister Rumen Radev’s government reacts as if Bulgaria is under attack when a Ukrainian drone explodes over its territory, the Defence Minister is quick to shrug off two Russian drones and a rocket engine destroyed by the Navy. The contrast fits perfectly into the new government’s propaganda narrative.
On 8th August 2026, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced that a drone had exploded in the Bulgarian airspace. Later the same day the Defence Ministry published a statement declaring that this was a decoy drone Maya that is widely used by the Ukrainian armer forces. One of the national TV stations immediately ran with the headline “Ukrainian decoy drone Maya exploded in the Bulgarian airspace“.
There was a big press conference for the announcement, with the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the heads of the national security agencies. The Ukrainian Ambassador was summoned by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister. This was the major news of the day with all mainstream media channels focusing on it.
The reaction was almost as dramatic as if what happened was a malicious attack, even though no such claims were ever made. To the contrary – the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately said that they are cooperating with the investigation and that “Ukraine did not deliberately direct any assets towards Bulgaria“.
On 14th August 2026 photos of a drone on a beach in Primorsko caught the public eye. The photo seemed to have been taken by a beachgoer who stumbled upon the drone during their holiday.
The same day Radev was visiting Pleven and spent a considerable amount of time speaking to journalists, without a single mention of the discovery in Primorsko.
The journalists then asked to speak with the Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov and questioned him about the drone that seemed to have washed off at a Bulgarian beach. Stoyanov spoke about not one but two Russian ( in his words “made in Russia” and “used by the Russian armed forces”) reconnaissance drones and even a rocket engine that was destroyed by the Bulgarian Naval Forces. He shrugged it all off and spoke about the matter as if it was unsignificant detail that has no importance to the national security or the country’s defence. He acted as if nothing really had happened.
However, both Radev and Stoyanov expressed displeasure, that the Ukrainian authorities are taking too long to confirm if the Maya drone was theirs.
There was no press conference, the Russian ambassador was not summoned and the mainstream media barely mentioned the incident with one of the drones.
Manipulation of Public Perception:
This is an opportunistic but carefully calculated way to manipulate the public perception and twist the narrative. The reaction to the incident with the Ukrainian drone was significantly different compared to the reaction to multiple incidents with Russian military equipment.
On 8th August the behaviour of the Prime Minister, the government and the mainstream media created an atmosphere of an attack. As soon as it was announced that Maya drones were used by the Ukrainian armed forces, pro-Kremlin social media accounts immediately activated to further spread hysteria and create the feeling that Bulgaria is being attacked by Ukraine. In this way, through the reaction of the government, the mainstream media reporting and organised social media accounts activity, Ukraine was portrayed as the aggressor. This is a major point in the Kremlin propaganda.
However, when two Russian drones are found and a rocket engine had to be destroyed by the Bulgarian navy, the Prime Minister acted as if it didn’t happen, the Defence Minister shrugged it off, the mainstream media barely reported on it and the organised pro-Kremlin accounts remained silent. This shows clearly that the current Bulgarian government is taking a side in the conflict, and the side they are taking is definitely not the one of the Bulgarian people.
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