European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (second from left), and Boyko Borissov (right), leader of GERB party, walk during the EU official's visit to Bulgarian state arms company VMZ-Sopot, in Sopot, Bulgaria, Aug. 31, 2025. Bulgarian Government Press Office/Handout/REUTERS

A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was hit by GPS jamming over Bulgaria in a suspected Russian operation, a spokesperson said Monday. The plane landed safely in Plovdiv airport and von der Leyen will continue her planned tour of the European Union's nations bordering Russia and Belarus, said the commission's spokesperson Arianna Podestà.

"We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming," Podestà said in a statement also shared separately with CBS News by a European Commission spokesperson. "We have received information from the Bulgarian authority that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia."

The Financial Times newspaper, which was the first to report the incident citing EU officials, said the GPS jamming forced the pilot to land the plane carrying von der Leyen using paper maps.

Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow's war in Ukraine, is on a four-day tour of the EU nations bordering Russia and its close ally Belarus.

"This incident actually underlines the urgency of the mission that the president is carrying out in the front-line member states," Podestà said.

She said that von der Leyen has seen "firsthand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies."

"And, of course, the EU will continue to invest into defense spending and in Europe's readiness even more after this incident," she said.

Bulgaria's government issued a statement saying "the satellite signal used for the aircraft's GPS navigation was disrupted. As the aircraft approached Plovdiv Airport, the GPS signal was lost."

Von der Leyen told The Financial Times newspaper, in an interview published Sunday, that European nations had formulated "precise plans" for post-war troop deployments in Ukraine, should diplomatic efforts led by President Trump succeed in brokering a truce.

The EU chief told the newspaper that Mr. Trump had assured her there would be an "American presence" as a "backstop" to security guarantees offered to Ukraine as part of any eventual ceasefire, but she offered no details on what that might include.

President Trump has made it clear he will not deploy U.S. forces to Ukraine as part of any peace deal with Russia.



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