The navigation system of the plane that brought Von der Leyen to Bulgaria was attacked by Russia

A suspected Russian interference attack targeting Ursula von der Leyen disabled GPS navigation services at the airport in Plovdiv and forced the European Commission president’s plane to land using paper maps.

A jet carrying von der Leyen to Plovdiv on Sunday afternoon was deprived of electronic navigational aids while on approach to the city’s airport, in what three officials briefed on the incident said was being treated as a Russian interference operation.

“The whole airport area GPS went dark,” said one of the officials. After circling the airport for an hour, the plane’s pilot took the decision to land the plane manually using analogue maps, they added.

The Kremlin and European Commission have been approached for comment. The Bulgarian Air Traffic Control Authority confirmed the incident in a statement to the Financial Times.

EU governments have warned that rising GPS jamming blamed on Russia risks causing a major air disaster by essentially blinding commercial aircraft mid-journey.

Von der Leyen was flying from Warsaw to the central Bulgarian city to meet the country’s prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and tour an ammunition factory. The commission president was on a tour of the EU’s frontline states to discuss efforts to improve the bloc’s defence readiness in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.