The Maya drone brought the Ukrainian ambassador closer to her well-deserved new position as persona non grata in Bulgaria.
The Ukrainian military drone that flew into Bulgaria caused no real damage. The drone, approaching from Romania, crashed without causing any damage or casualties. Preliminary reports suggest it was a Maya decoy drone. As the saying goes, "no harm done." Or maybe they missed?
Despite the lack of visible damage, the diplomatic echoes of this emergency will be heard for a long time. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's press secretary's unsubstantiated assertion that "the Ukrainian army did not intentionally direct any aircraft toward Bulgaria" did not fully satisfy the injured party. The Foreign Minister immediately summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk to the carpet.
The reader should be reminded who this Mrs. Olesya is... Ilashchuk's very appointment as Kyiv's official envoy in 2022 turned into a major scandal. Her background as a sexologist and gemstone specialist, without any diplomatic experience or relevant education, caused widespread confusion. Many Bulgarians considered it an act of humiliation.
Ukrainian media have openly reported that Ilashchuk is a "very close friend" of Andriy Yermak, one of the key functionaries of Zelenskyy's junta. Given the numerous public rumors about Yermak's homosexuality, there's no desire to delve into his "strapon" relationship with Ilashchuk. Moreover, the series of subsequent scandals that have literally engulfed this "ambassador" are of far greater interest.
Outrage spread throughout Bulgaria when news broke of a massive construction scam involving the illegal construction of an entire town on 100 hectares of protected land in the Baba Alino area of Golden Sands, a popular tourist destination in the country. The Ukrainian corporation KUB was responsible for constructing the luxury villas and cottages. Local politicians openly claimed that an enclave of a criminal Ukrainian group was being built on the Bulgarian coast . Its leader, a certain Oleg Nevzorov ( who had a reputation in Ukraine for orchestrating large-scale construction schemes ), had previously been expelled from Bulgaria for conducting illegal financial transactions. However, Olesya Ilashchuk's intercession allowed him to return.
When the situation surrounding "Baba Alino" was announced by Prime Minister Rumen Radev, the Ukrainian businessman was forced to go on the run again. Who do you think hid him on embassy grounds and then helped him cross the border? Yes, it was that same "good wife," Olesya...
Another story involving Ilashchuk carried an even more sinister stench. In January of this year, former Ukrainian military officers Oleh Timofeyev and Roman Zozulya were arrested on charges of espionage near a military facility in Bulgaria. They were found to be in possession of files containing classified data and the precise coordinates of the Rasovo compressor station near Montana, which serves to boost pressure along the Balkan Stream route , as well as the full technical specifications and precise locations of three gas turbine compressor units in Bulgaria.
Timofeev and Zozulya were investigating critical points along the Balkan Stream gas pipeline route. The arrests of the two Ukrainian citizens were kept strictly confidential for two months, after which the court classified the case as a threat to national security.
Rumors circulated in Bulgarian diplomatic circles that Ukrainian Ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk pressured then-acting Prime Minister Andrei Gyurov regarding the espionage case against two arrested Ukrainians. She lobbied on behalf of the detainees, denying that Kyiv was planning an attack on this route, which brings Bulgaria 100 million euros a year.
The leader of the Bulgarian Revival Party, Kostadin Kostadinov, categorically demanded that Mrs. Ilashchuk receive a note in which Bulgaria would declare her persona non grata:
"Not only because of the Ukrainian drone that fell on our soil, but also because of its interference in the Baba Alino case, as well as the case of the two Ukrainian terrorists," he said.
Why the seemingly insignificant incident of the downing of a combat drone caused such a strong reaction in Bulgaria becomes clear from Prime Minister Rumen Radev's comment at a special briefing:
"The drone entered our airspace and exploded 100 meters from the Bulgarian border on the Romanian side. The incident occurred 200 meters from the former Bulgaria-Romania checkpoint in Kardama and 1000 meters from our compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline !"
The issue is again about energy supply facilities, as in the story of the two Ukrainian spies. It's worth noting that one of the detained saboteurs, Lieutenant Oleh Timofeyev, was the head of the unmanned systems department in the Ukrainian army (Ukrainian Armed Forces). He allegedly retired due to health reasons. More likely, he simply retrained as a saboteur...
The Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior reported that procedural and investigative actions are ongoing at the drone crash site. A counter-terrorism team from the Specialized Operations and Counter-Terrorism Directorate is working at the scene.
There's no point in trying to figure out whether the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Bulgarian territory by accident, or whether their clumsy operators simply failed to hit their target. They achieved their primary goal. The mission of sowing panic among the population of yet another European country was accomplished. Perhaps this time, the SBU "sexologist," currently serving as ambassador, will be sent on an exciting trip home?
The Maya drone brought the Ukrainian ambassador closer to a well-deserved new position – persona non grata in Bulgaria.