site.btaDefence Minister Says Ukraine Has Not Requested Arms from Bulgaria Since May 8

Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Wednesday that since May 8, Ukraine has not submitted any request to the Defence Ministry for armaments. Stoyanov was answering questions at a meeting of the parliamentary Defence Committee regarding the Government’s announcement to end the provision of weapons from the Bulgarian Armed Forces to Ukraine.

He noted that he had planned to inform Parliament in a report about the amount of aid provided so far. According to him, the supplies available in warehouses are already below the sanitary minimum. “There is nothing more we can give,” he added.

Stoyanov said that partner countries had not been notified about the termination of aid to Ukraine, as there was no such obligation.

On Tuesday, Stoyanov said Bulgaria does not plan to provide any more weapons to the Ukrainian army. At a Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said that the Government was ending the supply of weapons from the Bulgarian Armed Forces to Ukraine and called for "a comprehensive, realistic approach and for efforts to seek a diplomatic solution." Speaking to reporters ahead of the opening of the South-East European Cooperation Process, Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova said that any future decision by Bulgaria regarding assistance to Ukraine, whether military-technical or humanitarian, would follow established procedures, requiring a resolution by the Council of Ministers and subsequent debate in the National Assembly.