A fire broke out overnight at an ammunition storage site run by Bulgarian defence company EMCO in central Bulgaria, with no injuries reported but a series of explosions triggered. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said on Saturday the blaze was under control and an investigation had begun.
Demerdzhiev told journalists that authorities were reviewing earlier fires at the same company and at other firms to look for a possible connection or pattern. “We are not ruling out outside interference,” he said. He raised concerns about the security of the sites and the conditions under which explosives are stored.
The incident followed an explosion and fire last month at another EMCO ammunition depot in the area. EMCO said the latest fire was the result of sabotage and that human error was “completely ruled out.” The company cited more than 10 similar incidents at Bulgarian defence firms since 2011 but did not identify any suspects.
EMCO said the burned storage facility, located near the village of Gorni Varpishta some 170km (106 miles) east of Sofia, had not been used for months and had been inspected 20 days earlier, when full compliance with regulations was confirmed. The site mainly holds ammunition, including a small quantity of medium-calibre rounds, according to production manager Slavcho Dimiev.
The company accused authorities of failing to protect defence facilities, saying no investigation into the earlier incidents had been concluded. Its warehouse had been inspected seven times since the start of the year, it said.
EMCO is run by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, whom Bulgarian prosecutors have previously alleged was targeted by Russian operatives. In 2024, Bulgaria issued arrest warrants for six Russian citizens accused of involvement in the destruction of EMCO arms depots that stored munitions destined for export to Ukraine and Georgia between 2011 and 2020. Three Russian nationals were charged in absentia for attempted murder over a 2015 poisoning attempt on Gebrev, his son and a company employee. Moscow has dismissed the allegations.
Bulgaria is a major weapons supplier to Ukraine. Although Sofia has halted state-owned arms supplies to Ukraine, Bulgarian private defence firms continue such transfers. In June, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Bulgaria would no longer provide state arms to Ukraine and urged Moscow and Kyiv to negotiate an end to the war.
Last week Germany said Russia was responsible for an August drone attack at Leipzig’s airport, a claim Moscow rejected as “absurd.” There have been suspicious fires at defence facilities from Italy to Estonia.