Russia is believed to have jammed the satellite signal of a plane carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, over Bulgaria, reportedly forcing it to circle an airport for an hour.
Von der Leyen was travelling to Plovdiv on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids, delaying its arrival in the central Bulgarian city.
The commission deputy spokesperson Arianna Podestà confirmed the incident. “We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this was due to blatant interference by Russia. Of course, we are aware and used to … the threats and intimidations that are a regular component of Russia’s hostile behaviour,” she said.
Interference with satellite navigation has become increasingly common in airspace near Russia and it is unclear whether von der Leyen was deliberately targeted. Asked about this point, Podestà said: “The question is best asked to the Russians.”
Major airports use a variety of tools to navigate and land if GPS is not working, including radio navigation, which is reliable.
The incident was first reported by the Financial Times, which said von der Leyen’s plane circled Plovdiv airport for an hour.
The incident happened during a four-day trip by von der Leyen to seven EU member states on the bloc’s eastern border. In Vilnius on Monday, von der Leyen did not mention the incident but spoke of “constant military and hybrid threats” facing Lithuania.
Referring to two drones that crossed Lithuania’s border with Belarus last month, she said: “As Lithuania is being tested, Europe as a whole is being tested.”
The commission spokesperson said the incident “only reinforce[s] even further our unshakeable commitment to ramp up defence capabilities and our support for Ukraine”.
In March 2024, Russia was believed to have been responsible for jamming the signal of a plane carrying Grant Shapps, the then UK defence secretary, who was returning to the UK from Poland. The RAF plane was affected by GPS interference for about 30 minutes while it flew near the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. It was reported at the time that it was unclear whether Shapps was the target.
GPS jamming and “spoofing” – an electronic warfare tactic that causes incorrect navigation information to be displayed – has increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and escalated even more sharply in the last year.
In June, 13 EU member states raised the alarm about jamming and spoofing threats disrupting air and sea travel. Poland recorded 2,732 cases of electronic interference in January 2025, up from 1,908 in October 2023, while Lithuania recorded 1,185 cases in the same month, up from 556 in March 2024, according to an internal EU document drafted in May.
The document describes interference to global satellite navigation systems as “not random incidents but a systemic, deliberate action by Russia and Belarus”. It says: “Causing significant damage has been simple and cheap” and is likely to continue without “proportional countermeasures”.
The commission said on Monday it had imposed sanctions on several companies involved in GPS signal disruption “in the very obvious blatant case of these originating from Russia”. It said it was developing an aviation-specific plan and broader strategies to prevent jamming.
Separately, Ukrainian police have accused Russia of involvement in the weekend killing of a former parliamentary speaker and pro-western politician.
Andriy Parubiy, a key figure in Ukraine’s anti-Russia movement, was shot dead in the western city of Lviv on Saturday by a man dressed as a delivery driver.
The national police chief, Ivan Vyhivskyi, said on Facebook: “We know that this crime was not accidental. There is Russian involvement. Everyone will be held accountable before the law.”
He said the killer disguised himself as a courier and opened fire on Parubiy in broad daylight, firing his weapon eight times. The shooter made sure that the victim was dead, Vyhivskyi said.
“He spent a long time preparing, watching, planning, and finally pulling the trigger. It took us only 36 hours to track him down and arrest him,” he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the “horrific murder” had affected “security in a country at war”.
Hopes for a ceasefire are low after last month’s summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump provided no tangible results. A deadline set by the US president at the summit for the Russian leader to take action to end the war or face new sanctions is due to expire this week. Trump has a history of delaying threatened action. On Friday Emmanuel Macron said Putin was trying to “play” Trump.
Von der Leyen said Ukraine’s allies were working on security guarantees. She described the first line of defence as “a strong, well-equipped and experienced” Ukrainian army, and the second as “a multinational group from the coalition of the willing, with the backstop of the Americans”.
About 30 countries – known as the coalition of the willing – have pledged support for Ukraine but it remains unclear how many European countries would send troops or how those forces could be deployed. The US expects European countries to do the heavy lifting but could provide logistical support.
Zelenskyy is expected to meet European leaders in Paris on Thursday as part of an attempt to force an end to Russia’s three-and-a-half-year-old invasion.
