Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed on Wednesday that a fire broke out at a Starlink satellite internet facility near the capital Sofia last week. Two young men holding German passports have been taken into custody in connection with the suspected attack, Bulgarian media reported, citing investigators. The satellite network plays a strategically important role in Ukraine's defence against Russia's invasion. The fire had first been made public by the pro-Western opposition alliance Democratic Bulgaria (DB). Radev said he would not provide further details because the investigations are ongoing.
According to DB, 11 of 17 antennas at the Starlink facility near Sofia were deliberately set on fire on October 9. The antennas were used in the war in Ukraine. Pro-Western opposition parties said they suspected Russia was linked to the attack.
Two men aged 20 and 21, both holding German passports, were detained in Bulgaria on Monday, several Bulgarian outlets reported. According to Faktor.bg, the suspects have migrant backgrounds and entered Bulgaria legally from Greece through the Kulata border crossing. Investigators are examining whether they belong to a larger sabotage network potentially linked to two men arrested in Germany this week over an attack on a Starlink facility in Poland.
Bulgarian officials stressed that the Sofia facility is privately owned. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told parliament that additional security measures had been introduced at similar sites, although responsibility for their protection rests with their owners. Plamen Tonchev, head of the State Agency for National Security (DANS), said he believed the fire was an act of sabotage and warned that such acts cannot be ruled out in the future. A fire also broke out at a Starlink ground terminal south of Warsaw on September 23. Two suspected saboteurs were arrested on Tuesday in Nürtingen, near Stuttgart, while the Warsaw government suspects Russian intelligence services were behind the Polish attack.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing