Explosion and fire at EMCO ammunition warehouse in Bulgaria, second such incident in weeks
An explosion and fire struck an EMCO ammunition warehouse near the village of Tsareva Livada in Bulgaria's Gabrovo region overnight on September 12, the second such incident at the company's facilities in recent weeks. Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said sabotage and a possible link to an August fire at another EMCO facility are among the versions being considered, and that external interference is not ruled out. No one was injured.
Key points
- Explosion and fire occurred at night on September 12 at an EMCO ammunition warehouse near Tsareva Livada, Gabrovo region
- EMCO director Slavcho Dimiev confirmed the warehouse stored ammunition and gunpowder; no one was injured, two guards left the premises
- Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said sabotage and a link to an August EMCO blaze are among the versions considered; external interference is not ruled out
- The fire is the second at an EMCO facility in weeks, following an August 10 explosion at another EMCO plant near Tryavna
- EMCO is owned by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev; in 2024 Bulgaria issued arrest warrants for six Russian citizens over earlier destruction of EMCO warehouses that had stored munitions exported to Ukraine and Georgia
- In August an explosion also struck a former Simmel Difesa plant in Italy owned by KNDS Ammo Italy; Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Rome had no data pointing to Russian involvement
- Bulgarian prosecutors have previously alleged Russian agents attacked Gebrev's facilities and have suggested links to the 2015 attempted poisoning of Gebrev and 2014 Czech depot explosions
Why it matters
Two explosions at EMCO weapons facilities in Bulgaria within weeks, combined with a separate August blast at an Italian defense plant and reports of a broader Russian-linked campaign against European defense industry sites, point to a possible pattern of sabotage against ammunition supply chains that have historically fed Ukraine.
What happened
On the night of September 12, an explosion hit a weapons facility in the Gabrovo region of Bulgaria, followed by a fire. The fire broke out near the village of Tsareva Livada at an EMCO warehouse in the area of Gorni Vyrpishhta; the nearest settlement is more than a kilometer away. EMCO director Slavcho Dimiev confirmed to Bulgarian National Television that the warehouse held ammunition and gunpowder. Gabrovo regional governor Kristina Sidorova said the blaze was on the warehouse base and was moving from warehouse to warehouse. No one was injured; two guards left the premises.
Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said investigators are considering several versions, including possible sabotage and a link to a previous fire at another EMCO facility in August. He added that the possibility of external interference is not ruled out and that investigators will review previous similar fires at the company's and other enterprises' warehouses for possible links or similar patterns. EMCO is owned by Bulgarian businessman Emilian Gebrev.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian-language reporting centers the EMCO facility's role as a supplier of ammunition previously exported to Ukraine and frames the incidents within the history of alleged Russian operations against Gebrev's assets. Coverage explicitly connects the Bulgarian blasts to the August explosion at the former Simmel Difesa plant in Italy and to reported Russian-linked attacks on European defense enterprises.
Where reporting differs
After the August EMCO incident, Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said a preliminary version held that it was not linked to external factors. For the September incident he said external interference is not ruled out and that sabotage and a possible link to the August fire are among the versions under consideration. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, for his part, said the Italian government had no data indicating Russian involvement in the August blast in Italy.
Background
In August 2024, Bulgaria issued arrest warrants for six Russian citizens accused of involvement in the destruction of EMCO ammunition warehouses that stored munitions exported to Ukraine and Georgia between 2011 and 2020. Bulgarian prosecutors have previously stated that Russian agents carried out attacks on Gebrev's facilities and have suggested possible links to the 2015 attempted poisoning of Gebrev and the 2014 ammunition depot explosions in the Czech Republic. Late August reports in The Telegraph cited Western intelligence sources saying Russia launched a new wave of attacks on European defense industry enterprises using local criminal groups. The Insider, Bellingcat and Der Spiegel previously investigated the 2015 GRU attempted poisoning of Gebrev and the explosions at ammunition warehouses intended in part for Ukraine.