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Bulgaria / 2025-08-12-bg-1

object found: Harmanite beach, Sozopol, Burgas province (2025-08-12)

/ date found, not date of flight

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What happened

At 10:00 the Burgas regional administration asked the military to deal with a drone washed up on Harmanite beach in Sozopol. A team from Burgas Naval Base found it to be an unmanned aircraft of unknown model and could not establish whether it carried a warhead; for safety it was destroyed in place at 11:20. In a written answer to an MP, defence minister Atanas Zapryanov wrote that the aircraft had been in the sea for about a month, carried no identification markings, an explosive charge inside it could not be excluded, and the Navy had no information about the tasks it had performed. Its description as a Russian Orlan-10 comes from the parliamentary question, not from a ministry finding.

The word "Russian" in this description comes from the source's account of where the object was made or what type it is. It is not a finding about who sent it or on whose orders. This record carries no assessment of responsibility: see the attribution band below.

Responsibility and limits of the evidence

not assessed

Nobody has yet assessed responsibility for this record. Not assessed is not the same as not established.

Impact

killed
not established
injured
not established
damage
not established

No casualties reported.

Source discrepancy

The placemark places it near Burgas; the ministry statement gives Harmanite beach in Sozopol.

What happened next

Defence minister in a written parliamentary answer: the drone had been in the sea for about a month, without markings, an explosive charge could not be excluded, the Navy does not know its tasks.

Sources

  1. МО: Специализиран екип на ВМС унищожи дрон, изхвърлен от морето край Созопол

    Ministry of Defence of Bulgaria (official message carried by BTA) / 2025-08-12 / primary source

    supports: the record, that it happened, the date, the location

  2. Шефът на МО увърта защо руският дрон е унищожен, без да е проучен

    Sega (quoting the minister's written answer published by the National Assembly, via BTA) / 2025-08-25 / secondary source

    supports: the record, the attribution

  3. Post on X about a drone washed ashore and destroyed by EOD (placemark source)

    X / @transbulgaria / 2025-08-12 / secondary source

    supports: the record