Bulgaria is investigating an overnight fire and series of explosions at an ammunition storage site run by private defence firm EMCO, with the interior minister saying authorities are "not ruling out outside interference." No-one was hurt, but EMCO itself has gone further, insisting the blaze was sabotage and that human error has been "completely ruled out," though it stopped short of naming a suspect. The incident matters because Bulgaria is a significant weapons supplier to Ukraine, and EMCO's products are used against Russian forces, fuelling suspicion that the fire fits a wider pattern of attacks on Europe's defence industry.

The fire struck a facility near Gorni Varpishta, about 170km east of Sofia, which EMCO said had been unused for months and passed an inspection just 20 days earlier. It follows a similar fire and blasts at another EMCO warehouse in the area last month, and the company says it has faced repeated sabotage incidents since 2011. EMCO's owner, Emilian Gebrev, was previously targeted in a 2015 poisoning attempt for which three Russian nationals were later charged in absentia. The report comes amid a broader wave of suspicious fires and attacks at defence sites across Europe, including Germany's recent accusation that Russia was behind a drone attack on Leipzig airport.