Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev stated that authorities do not rule out the possibility of "external interference." EMCO, a private defense company that supplies weapons to Ukraine, called the fire an act of sabotage and completely ruled out human error. The fire occurred at an ammunition storage facility near Gorni Varpishta in central Bulgaria, causing no casualties but triggering a series of explosions. EMCO noted that there have been multiple similar incidents at Bulgarian defense enterprises since 2011, and described the latest event as a "continuation of a series of deliberate acts of sabotage against the Bulgarian defense industry."