Explosion at Bulgarian ammunition depot supplying Ukraine sparks massive fire, sabotage probe

Key Points:

• A large fire broke out on Sept. 12 at a Bulgarian weapons storage facility operated by EMCO near Tsareva Livada, marking the second such incident at the company's sites in recent weeks; no injuries were reported.
• EMCO, which supplies ammunition to Ukraine and is owned by Emilian Gebrev, labeled the explosion an act of sabotage, rejecting human error as a cause since the warehouse was unused and recently inspected.
• Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said investigations are ongoing, considering both sabotage and security shortcomings, and announced inspections of other ammunition warehouses across Bulgaria.
• EMCO's facilities have been repeatedly targeted in suspected sabotage linked to Russian intelligence, with past incidents connected to poisoning attempts on Gebrev and explosions in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic; Russian involvement has been denied by Moscow.
• The incident reflects a broader pattern of fires and explosions at European defense facilities supplying Ukraine, including recent events in Italy and Germany involving major defense manufacturers.