World
Conflicting claims emerge on Russian GPS jamming targeting VDL's plane
ADVERTISEMENT
Reports that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plane was targeted by suspected Russian GPS jamming as she travelled from Warsaw to the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv on 31 August have sparked major speculation.
Scrutiny has intensified after official sources flip-flopped between statements, appearing to row back on early claims that the disruption had been caused by suspected Russian interference.
The timeline
The Financial Times broke the story on 1 September, reporting that von der Leyen’s plane — a charter aircraft operated by Luxembourg airline LuxAviation — circled Plovdiv airport for an hour, using paper maps to land, after being targeted by “suspected Russian GPS interference.”
The same day, the European Commission stated it had received information from the Bulgarian authorities which suggested that the alleged jamming was “due to blatant interference from Russia.”
Later that day, prominent flight tracking site FlightRadar24 issued a statement in which it cast doubt over the notion there was any GPS jamming in the area around Plovdiv at the time of the plane’s landing.
The data provided by FlightRadar24 also revealed that the flight had taken nine minutes longer than scheduled, contracting the original claim made by the Financial Times that the aircraft had been circling Plovdiv airport for an hour.
Later, the Financial Times’ claims that “paper maps” had been used to conduct the landing were contested after Bulgarian authorities released a statement specifying that a ground-based radio navigation system known as ILS was used.
As the story unravelled, a recording in which the plane’s pilot reported “issues with the GPS” to Bulgarian air traffic controllers emerged, seemingly confirming some kind of interruption to the aircraft’s navigation systems.
But days later, on 4 September, in an interview with Bulgarian channel bTV, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov denied that the government had submitted any information on the matter to the European Commission, contradicting the Commission’s assertion that Bulgarian authorities suspected the disruption was the result of the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Bulgarian aviation authorities did hand the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) a report of the conversation between the pilot of the plane and the control tower, but while this exchange referred to “minor issues” with the GPS, it did not mention Russian interference.
“EASA still needs to remove the computers on board the aircraft and see what these computers registered,” Karadjov added.
Later that day, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, said there was “no evidence” of “prolonged interference or jamming” of the GPS signal around Plovdiv airport in an address to Parliament.
Zhelyazkov later appeared to back-peddle on his earlier claims, stating that although no jamming had been detected by “ground instruments”, this didn’t exclude the possibility of “onboard devices” having experienced jamming.
Zhelyazkov subsequently ordered aviation authorities to launch an investigation into what happened, despite Bulgarian authorities initially stating there wouldn’t be one.
Conflicting perspectives from analysts
Euronews consulted several analysts, some of which stand by the possibility of a “spoofing” or “jamming incident,” while others firmly asserted that there is no evidence of GPS jamming in the area around Plovdiv on the day in question.
Ian Petchenik, director of communications for Flightradar24, told Euronews that the “aircraft’s transponder reported good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing,” based on their analysis of Navigation Integrity Category (NIC) values, which is an indicator of the quality of navigational data received by the aircraft.
However, Petchenik added that interference “could have been internal to the aircraft, or from another source.”
But Mahmoud Elsanhoury from Finland’s Vaasa University told Euronews that spoofers have developed increasingly sophisticated techniques which allow them to make it appear like a good signal level is being transmitted to an aircraft, when in reality it is not.
“If the signal level is good and the pilot is going around in circles, this is a a very big indicator that it was a spoofing incident”, Elsanhoury explained.
Although there is a plethora of doubts surrounding this incident, Moscow has intensified GPS jamming targeting planes and ships since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, primarily in the area surrounding the Baltic Sea.
“We are very well aware that unfortunately this incident is not specific to the president, meaning that it occurs on a very regular basis to many aircrafts flying in particular next to our eastern border,” a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday, adding that “coordinated action from the European Union is needed” to tackle the threat.
Shops and schools shut in northern Israel as residents protested a 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon that took effect on April 16, saying “nothing was achieved”. Israeli officials say operations may continue, with forces still deployed inside southern Lebanon.
Published On 19 Apr 2026
World
Pope Leo says remarks about world being ‘ravaged by a handful of tyrants’ were not aimed at Trump: report
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that remarks he made this week in which he said the “world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” were not directed at President Donald Trump, a report said.
The pope, speaking onboard a flight to Angola during his 10-day tour of Africa, said reporting about his comments “has not been accurate in all its aspects” and his speech “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting,” according to Reuters.
The news outlet cited the pope as saying his comments were not aimed at Trump.
“As it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate the president, which is not in my interest at all,” the pope reportedly said.
’60 MINUTES’ ACCUSED OF USING LEFT-LEANING CARDINALS TO BAIT TRUMP INTO FEUD WITH VATICAN
Pope Leo XIV answers journalists’ questions during his flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon, to Luanda, Angola, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (Luca Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance later took to X to thank the pope for clearing the record.
“While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict — and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen — the reality is often much more complicated,” Vance wrote. “Pope Leo preaches the gospel, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he offers his opinions on the moral issues of the day.
“The President — and the entire administration — work to apply those moral principles in a messy world,” he continued. “He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we’ll be in his.”
The vice president’s comments came days after he told Fox News’ Bret Baier on “Special Report” that it would be best for the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality.”
“Let the President of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said Tuesday.
Trump last Sunday accused Pope Leo XIV of being “terrible” on foreign policy after the pontiff criticized the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
“He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
POPE LEO SLAMS THOSE WHO ‘MANIPULATE RELIGION’ FOR MILITARY OR POLITICAL GAIN, TRUMP RESPONDS
Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump (Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images; Salwan Georges/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
During a speech in Cameroon on Thursday, the pope said, “We must make a decisive change of course — a true conversion — that will lead us in the opposite direction, onto a sustainable path rich in human fraternity.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.
Pope Leo XIV speaks as he meets with the community of Bamenda at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Bamenda on the fourth day of an 11-day apostolic journey to Africa April 16, 2026. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Bulgarians headed to the polls Sunday for the eighth time in five years, with anti-corruption candidate and former president Rumen Radev’s bloc tipped to win.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
The European Union’s poorest member has been through a spate of governments since 2021, when large anti-graft rallies brought an end to the conservative government of long-time leader Boyko Borissov.
Eurostat data shows Bulgaria consistently ranks last in the EU by GDP per capita. In 2025, Bulgaria (along with Greece) was at 68% of the EU average.
Radev, who has advocated for renewing ties with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine, was president for nine years in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people.
He stepped down in January to lead newly formed centre-left grouping Progressive Bulgaria, with opinion polls before Sunday’s vote suggesting the bloc could gain 35% of the vote.
The former air force general has said he wants to rid the country of its “oligarchic governance model”, and backed anti-corruption protests in late 2025 that brought down the latest conservative-backed government.
“I’m voting for change,” Decho Kostadinov, 57, told reporters after casting his ballot at a polling station in the capital, Sofia, adding corrupt politicians “should leave — they should take whatever they’ve stolen and get out of Bulgaria”.
Polls are forecasting a surge in voter participation, with more than 3.3 million Bulgarians expected to cast ballots according to the Bulgarian News Agency.
Voting will close at 1700 GMT, with exit polls expected immediately afterwards. Preliminary results are expected on Monday.
‘Preserve what we have’
Borissov’s pro-European GERB party is likely to come second, according to opinion polls, with around 20%, ahead of the liberal PP-DB.
“I’m voting to preserve what we have. We are a democratic country, we live well,” said Elena, an accountant of about 60, who did not give her full name, after casting her vote in Sofia.
Front-runner Radev has slammed the EU’s green energy policy, which he considers naive “in a world without rules”.
He also opposes any Bulgarian efforts to send arms to help Ukraine fight back Russia’s 2022 invasion, though he has said he would not use his country’s veto to block Brussels’ decisions.
Pushing for renewed ties with Russia, Radev denounced a 10-year defence agreement between Bulgaria and Ukraine signed last month – drawing fresh accusations from opponents of being too soft on Moscow.
The ex-president also stoked outrage online for screening images at his final campaign rally of his meetings with world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“We need to close ranks,” he told around 10,000 cheering supporters at the rally, presenting his party as a non-corrupt “alternative to the perverse cartel of old-style parties”.
Borissov, who headed the country virtually uninterrupted for close to a decade, has dismissed suggestions that Radev brings something “new”.
At a rally of his party earlier this week, he insisted GERB had “fulfilled the dreams of the 1990s” with such achievements as the country joining the eurozone this year.
‘No one to vote for’
Radev is aiming for an absolute majority in the 240-seat parliament.
A lack of trust in politics has affected voter turnout, which slumped to 39% in the last election in 2024.
But with Radev rallying voters, high turnout is expected this time, according to analyst Boryana Dimitrova from the Alpha Research polling institute.
Miglena Boyadjieva, a taxi driver of about 55, said she always votes, but the “problem is that there is no one to vote for”.
“You vote for one person and get others. The system has to change,” she told reporters.
Political parties have called on Bulgarians to show up for the polls, also to curb the impact of vote buying.
In recent weeks, police have seized more than one million euros in raids against vote buying in stepped-up operations.
They have also detained hundreds of people, including local councillors and mayors.
-
Politics6 minutes agoTrump ally diGenova tapped to lead DOJ probe into Brennan over Russia probe origins
-
Health12 minutes agoExperts reveal why ‘nonnamaxxing’ trend may improve mental, physical health
-
Sports18 minutes ago‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
-
Technology24 minutes agoiPhone and Samsung flashlight tricks you should know
-
Business30 minutes agoDavid Ellison hits CinemaCon, vowing to make more movies with Paramount-Warner Bros.
-
Entertainment36 minutes agoLarry David discusses ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ ‘Seinfeld’ legacies and new HBO series
-
Lifestyle41 minutes agoNine non-negotiable items for a well-designed life
-
Politics48 minutes agoSupreme Court weighs phone searches to find criminals amid complaints of ‘digital dragnets’