Fire at Starlink site in Bulgaria after suspected sabotage in Poland

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed on Wednesday that there had been a fire at a facility of the Starlink satellite internet service 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 later reported, citing investigators.

The satellite network is a strategically important part of Ukraine's defence in the war against Russia's invasion.

The fire had previously been made public by the pro-Western opposition alliance Democratic Bulgaria (DB). Radev said he would not provide any further details in light of the ongoing investigations.

According to DB, 11 of 17 antennas at a Starlink facility near Sofia were deliberately set on fire on October 9. The antennas were used in the war in Ukraine, DB said.

Pro-Western opposition parties said they suspected Russia was linked to the attack.

Two German passport holders in custody

Two men aged 20 and 21, both holding German passports, were detained in Bulgaria on Monday in connection with the suspected attack, several Bulgarian media outlets reported on Wednesday evening, citing investigators.

According to the news outlet Faktor.bg, the two suspects have migrant backgrounds and had legally entered Bulgaria from Greece through the Kulata border crossing.

The website reported that investigators were examining whether the suspects belonged to a larger sabotage network potentially linked to two men arrested in Germany earlier this week over a recent attack on a Starlink facility in Poland.

Sabotage suspected

Bulgarian officials stressed that the Starlink facility near Sofia was privately owned.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told parliament that additional security measures had been introduced at similar facilities, even though responsibility for their protection rested with their owners.

Plamen Tonchev, head of Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS), said he believed the fire at the Starlink facility was an act of sabotage.

"Such acts of sabotage cannot be ruled out in the future either," he warned lawmakers.

A fire also broke out at a Starlink ground terminal south of Warsaw on September 23.

Two suspected saboteurs accused of carrying out that attack in Poland were arrested on Tuesday in Nürtingen, near Stuttgart in south-western Germany.

The government in Warsaw suspects Russian intelligence services were behind the attack.