Media: Bulgaria delays pledged military aid for Ukraine

Bulgaria is postponing the delivery of 100 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine as the Bulgarian Defense Ministry seeks…

Feb 20, 2024 - 23:32

Media: Bulgaria delays pledged military aid for Ukraine

Bulgaria is postponing the delivery of 100 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine as the Bulgarian Defense Ministry seeks NATO’s assistance in covering transport costs, MPs from the ruling majority in Sofia told Euractiv Bulgaria.

In 2023, the Bulgarian parliament ratified an agreement between Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on the delivery of Soviet-era armored personnel carriers that were stored in warehouses for decades to Kyiv.

Bulgaria to send 100 armored vehicles to Ukraine, ignoring president’s veto

As per the legislators, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry has formally appealed to NATO, seeking aid in covering the transportation costs for the delivery of the armored personnel carriers.

“Bulgaria can offer its assistance, but it’s not happening at the necessary pace, and I hope the situation will improve.
We voted on the decision regarding the armored personnel carriers almost three months ago, but still, we cannot transport a hundred of them from Sofia to Ruse (a city at the Danube River in North-Eastern Bulgaria),” said MP Ivaylo Mirchev from the We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria ruling coalition.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev stated that the delay occurred because Sofia was checking whether NATO allies could fund the transportation.

“It’s not a simple transport operation because a large number of trains have to be engaged,” said the minister.

He explained that logistics are complex, and the Bulgarian efforts were “highly appreciated by the Ukrainian side.”

Earlier, Tagarev had said that at the beginning of the all-out war, Bulgaria allegedly delivered small arms, light weaponry, RPGs, self-propelled artillery units, 122mm and 152mm caliber shells, and landmines to Ukraine.

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