SOFIA: Bulgaria will no longer provide weapons from its army stocks to Ukraine, the prime minister of the NATO and EU member said on Wednesday (Jun 10), calling for “the pursuit of a diplomatic solution” to end the war.
While the country’s defence industry is set to remain one of the main suppliers of ammunition destined for Kyiv, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the government was “putting an end to the provision of weapons from the Bulgarian army to Ukraine”.
“We have already given enough, while our country continues to suffer socio-economic damage from this bloody war,” he told the media before a cabinet meeting.
Radev, who has called for dialogue with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, and criticised military aid to Ukraine, took office in May after his party won a majority in parliamentary elections.
He said on Wednesday that he was “convinced that a peaceful solution (to the Ukraine war) will not be achieved by military means”.
“That is why we once again call for a comprehensive and realistic approach to this war and for the pursuit of a diplomatic solution,” he added.
Bulgaria has supplied Ukraine with arms from Bulgarian army stocks, including air-defence and surface-to-air missiles, for which it was compensated through the EU’s European Peace Facility fund.
While several Bulgarian governments have emphasised their reluctance to deliver weapons directly to Ukraine, the country’s defence industry is one of the main suppliers of ammunition destined for Kyiv.
Bulgarian ammunition factories producing rounds for Soviet-era weapons used by the Ukrainian army have flourished since the start of the war, although their products are not sold directly to Ukraine but to EU countries, which then transfer them.
The centre-right GERB party headed by Boyko Borissov, a former prime minister, has criticised the plans to stop providing military aid to Ukraine, saying this was eroding “trust in Bulgaria as an ally”.
