European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's plane was forced to land at a Bulgarian airport using paper maps on Sunday as a result of a suspected Russian attack on the plane's GPS navigation system.
Leyen was en route to Plovdiv when the "whole airport area GPS went dark," an official briefed on the incident described, according to the report.
The plane circled the airport for an hour before the pilot decided to land the plane manually using analog maps. "It was undeniable interference," the official said.
"We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria. We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia," the spokesperson said.
The Russian government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Reinforcement to support Ukraine
The EU gave no further details, but the spokesperson said the incident would reinforce the bloc's "unshakable commitment to ramp up defense capabilities and support for Ukraine" against Russia's three-and-a-half-year-old invasion.
In a statement, Bulgaria's government said the GPS signal was lost as von der Leyen’s plane approached the southern city of Plovdiv, prompting air traffic controllers to switch to ground-based navigation systems to ensure a safe landing.
The incident occurred while von der Leyen was on a four-day tour to EU member states that border Russia.
"There she has seen first-hand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies," the commission spokesperson said.
"The EU will continue to invest in defense spending and in Europe's readiness even more after this incident."