The Bulgarian government announced on Tuesday that it will stop sending military aid to Ukraine, arguing that negotiation is the only way out of this country's war with Russia, the EFE agency reports, according to Agerpres.
“The war in Ukraine will not end on the battlefield. We are seeing a positional war, no matter how much weaponry is accumulated, and the only result is the loss of human lives. The time has come to sit down at the negotiating table” to reach a “just peace” for “both parties involved in the conflict”, the Bulgarian Minister of Defense, Dimitar Stoianov, told the media.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev, a former fighter pilot who served as Bulgaria's president before winning a landslide victory in early parliamentary elections in April, has advocated negotiations with Russia since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Radev also opposes economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union.
The Bulgarian defense minister also expressed doubt that the European Union could play a mediating role in this conflict, as it supports Ukraine militarily.
Previous Bulgarian governments have helped Ukraine with supplies of mainly ammunition and fuel, aid initially sent through intermediaries, and from the end of 2022 military aid packages to Kiev began to be formally approved by the parliament in Sofia.
For example, in 2023 the Bulgarian parliament authorized the delivery to Kiev of about one hundred Soviet-made BTR-60PB armored vehicles, despite the objections of Radev, who was then head of state.
With the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Bulgarian defense industry significantly increased the production of Soviet-caliber ammunition used by the Ukrainian army and participates as a supplier in European initiatives to supply Ukraine with shells.
