Bulgaria is investigating the deliberate burning of eleven Starlink antennas at a communications site south of Sofia, an attack that echoes September’s arson at a Polish ground station and has renewed questions about how exposed Europe’s satellite ground segment remains.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev told parliament on Wednesday that the inquiry was “extremely intensive” and that Bulgarian services were working with partner agencies. He declined to detail the operation, saying disclosure could compromise it. The Sofia prosecutor’s office confirmed an active investigation but said nobody has been charged.
Parliament member Ivaylo Mirchev, of the Yes, Bulgaria! party, was first to report the incident and published surveillance video showing two masked figures at the site. He said eleven of seventeen antennas were damaged. The Insider identified the facility from imagery as the Plana station, roughly twenty kilometers south of the capital.
A gap in the fence
Plamen Tonchev, who heads Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security, told lawmakers the site had been scheduled for expansion. Part of its perimeter fencing had already been taken down, which appears to have eased access.
The Insider reported that the station carries traffic used in part by Ukraine’s military. The damaged antennas were the primary link between the facility and satellites in orbit, Mirchev said, arguing they were not chosen by chance.
Mirchev suggested Russian involvement. Bulgarian authorities have not publicly attributed the fire.
Arson wave across Europe
Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said police added protection at comparable sites nationwide, though operators remain responsible for their own security.
The incident follows the late-September fire at a Starlink ground station in Wola Krobowska, Poland, run by state carrier Exatel. Polish officials called that blaze deliberate and linked it to Russian intelligence, detaining two suspects in Germany this month. Warsaw describes the campaign as hybrid warfare.
